Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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There are numerous types of pain, with different clinical meanings. Everyday pain might be experienced by everyone under different stressors, such as lack of sleep, alcohol overuse, stay in a stuffy room, and physical overstressors. It also might be related to a job character or attitudes. ⋯ The majority of all of the women included in this study used analgesics according to recommendations. Nurses were found to underuse analgesics and lay women to overuse the recommended dose. Speed and safety were identified as key factors driving studied respondents' decisions when treating pain.
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Acute and chronic pain management for persons residing in long-term care settings is a serious problem. In an effort to change practice in pain management and improve resident outcomes, the Campaign Against Pain education program was instituted at Beatitudes Health Care Center in Phoenix, Arizona. ⋯ After the intensive training program and onsite consultation with the concomitant changes in policies, procedures, and documentation, professional and CNA staff knowledge improved after 6 months (F = 6.273; p = .02), attitudes changed (F = 12.26; p = .002), and barriers were mitigated. With a comprehensive quality improvement pain plan in place, the findings suggest that education in pain management in long-term care and program changes that adopt best practices in pain can make a difference.
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A survey of conventional and complementary therapies used by youth with juvenile-onset fibromyalgia.
Little is known regarding treatment choices of youth diagnosed with juvenile-onset fibromyalgia (JFM) as they move into young adulthood. Additionally, there is little empirical evidence to guide youth with FM into appropriate treatment options, leading to a variety of therapies used to manage FM symptoms. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine all therapies used by individuals with JFM as they entered young adulthood and the perceived effectiveness of these treatments. ⋯ Although currently used treatments were reported as being effective, past treatments, especially medications, were viewed as being more variably effective. This is a potential reason why young adults with JFM might try more complementary and alternative approaches to managing their symptoms. More controlled studies are needed to investigate the effectiveness of these complementary methods to assist treatment providers in giving evidence-based treatment recommendations.
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Critically ill patients are often not able to self-report the presence of pain. Currently there is no generally accepted assessment tool for this population. The Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) was developed for pain assessment of critically ill patients. ⋯ Testing for DV demonstrated a significant difference in mean scores between noxious (painful) and nonnoxious (nonpainful) procedures. Testing for CV showed a weak nonsignificant Spearman correlation of 0.26 (P < .312) between CPOT scores and patient self-report during repositioning after extubation. This replication study adds to four studies that have examined psychometric attributes of the instrument and contributes to the process of translating the use of this instrument to the clinical setting.
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Children continue to experience moderate to severe pain during hospitalization. This paper presents data from two modified focus groups undertaken as part of a larger study exploring pediatric pain management practices in one hospital in the south of England. Thirty nurses took part in the focus groups and were asked questions about their views about the barriers and facilitators to effective pain management in the hospital. ⋯ It appears that nurses may not take as active a role as they could do in managing pediatric pain rather seeing it as the parents and child's responsibility to let them know when they are experiencing pain. Nurses also felt that parents exaggerate their child's pain and ask for analgesic drugs before their child needs them. There is a need to explore the interactions between nurses, children and parents in this context in more detail.