Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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Pain has been promoted as the fifth vital sign for a decade, but there is little empirical evidence to suggest that doing so has affected the care of individuals suffering pain. This was a three-stage audit of pain assessment in one large teaching hospital in the Northwest of England. Stage one measured the baseline pain assessment activity on surgical and medical wards and identified that the pain assessment tool was not visible to nurses. ⋯ Stage three identified that where a high pain score was recorded, analgesia was delivered in the majority of cases (88%). Introducing the philosophy of pain as the fifth vital sign and making pain assessment more visible on the patient observation chart improved the uptake of pain assessment. Pain management strategies were stimulated when high pain scores were identified.
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Neonates receiving care in intensive care units are highly likely to experience pain due to investigations and/or treatments carried out by the health care providers. Neonates are a vulnerable population because they are unable to vocalize their pain. Unaddressed and mismanaged pain can not only affect the child's comfort, but also may alter the development and cognitive abilities of the child in a later part of his/her life. ⋯ It was concluded that the nurses lack knowledge and that their attitudes also were hindering pain management. One of the barriers identified by the nurses was that physicians do not prescribe analgesics for managing neonatal pain. So not only the nursing staff, but all of the caregivers involved in neonatal care may be lacking in knowledge and hold perceptions and attitudes that hamper neonatal pain management.
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Chronic pain has been found to cause significant losses in the lives of those who experience it. To improve their life situation, it is important to understand the impact of these losses and manage them effectively. The aim of this study was twofold. ⋯ Failure to address these losses may result in patients obtaining few of the benefits that could be gained from pain management groups. Because the findings point to the synergies among several components in the program, it is difficult to isolate the effects of a single component. The conscious use of CBT-based elements, i.e., changing behavior by changing thoughts and feelings, in the pain management group seemed to help them to process the losses through new insight and understanding.
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A quantitative descriptive secondary data analysis design was used to describe older black adult communication of osteoarthritis pain and the communication strategies used to convey the pain information. Pain content from 74 older black adults with persistent osteoarthritis pain was analyzed using criteria from the American Pain Society arthritis pain management guidelines that included type of pain (nociceptive/neuropathic), quality of pain, source, location, intensity, duration/time course, pain affect, effect on personal lifestyle, functional status, current pain treatments, use of recommended glucosamine sulfate, effectiveness of prescribed treatments, prescription analgesic side effects, weight management to ideal body weight, exercise regimen or physical therapy and/or occupational therapy, and indications for surgery. Communication strategies were analyzed with criteria derived from Communication Accommodation Theory that included being clear, using medical syntax, using ethnic specific syntax, being explicit, and staying on topic when discussing pain. ⋯ Fewer used explicit descriptions of pain that produced a vivid mental image, and few used medical terminology. Use of medical syntax and more explicit descriptions might improve communication about pain between health care practitioners and patients. Practitioners might assist older black adults with persistent osteoarthritis pain to communicate important clinical pain information by helping them to use relevant medical terminology and more explicit pain descriptions when discussing pain management.
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This study examined self-management (SM), self-management support (SMS), and functional ablement in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients and the role of SM in explaining the relationship of SMS to functional ablement. The pervasiveness of CLBP is alarming in today's health care. Although the literature is beginning to explicate the impact of SM and SMS in other chronic illnesses, these are yet to be clarified in CLBP. ⋯ This study assists in advancing knowledge and contributing toward understanding SM, SMS, and functional ablement in CLBP. It is important to engage patients and health care providers in SM and SMS. More exploration is necessary to assess the influences of SM and SMS in CLBP outcomes toward improving the complex care of these patients.