Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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The McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) pain quality descriptors have been analyzed to characterize the sensory, affective, and evaluative domains of pain, but have not been differentiated by pain location. ⋯ This type of pain characterization is innovative and has the potential to help implement targeted treatments for patients with cancer and other chronic pain conditions.
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Systematic pain assessment is necessary to ensure effective pain management. Despite the availability of recommendations, guidelines, and valid tools for pain assessment, the actual implementation in clinical practice is inconsistent. ⋯ The majority of intensive care unit nurses used pain assessment tools for patients both able and unable to communicate; however, the most valid and reliable tools were not used often. Nurses were not aware of the pain behaviors most indicative of pain among critically ill patients.
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The aim of the present review was to characterize how pain and spirituality have been conceptualized, assessed, and addressed and how these concepts may be related among women with advanced breast cancer. ⋯ This review identified significant unmanaged pain in women with advanced breast cancer. Women identified dimensions of spirituality as important for coping with their disease. A gap in understanding spirituality and its potential influence on pain in this population was identified.
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This integrative review aimed to synthesize and critically evaluate the methodological quality of the evidence on parent's participation in managing their children's postoperative pain at home. ⋯ There is need to improve communication between parents and health professionals before and after the child's surgery and to provide parents with specific verbal and written instructions and strategies on how to assess and manage their children's pain.
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Pain is a subjective experience, unfortunately, some patients cannot provide a self-report of pain verbally, in writing, or by other means. In patients who are unable to self-report pain, other strategies must be used to infer pain and evaluate interventions. In support of the ASPMN position statement "Pain Assessment in the Patient Unable to Self-Report", this paper provides clinical practice recommendations for five populations in which difficulty communicating pain often exists: neonates, toddlers and young children, persons with intellectual disabilities, critically ill/unconscious patients, older adults with advanced dementia, and patients at the end of life. Nurses are integral to ensuring assessment and treatment of these vulnerable populations.