Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
-
Too often, the elderly suffer silently and needlessly with chronic pain. To investigate the pain experience of the elderly living in the community, a descriptive research design was used. The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence of pain in an older population living in the community, to obtain a description of the older adult's pain experience, and to determine strategies used to manage their pain. ⋯ Pain in the elderly continues to be a challenge which needs to be addressed more effectively by health care providers. Based on the high prevalence of pain experienced by the elderly and the expected demographic shifts in the next two decades, it is imperative to continue research in this area to assure the highest quality of life, as well as maximum functional ability, for the elderly. Health care providers need to understand the multidimensional pain experience that occurs in the daily life of the community-dwelling older adult and the most effective management strategies that can be used to provide pain relief.
-
Postoperative pain control is a clinical imperative, for which morphine is a preferred opioid. However, interpatient variability and drug accumulation with repeated doses, as well as medication errors, may result in respiratory arrest with this medication. Early detection of respiratory depression is essential for safe use of morphine, following both initial and repeated doses. ⋯ Despite suboptimal guideline adherence, potential signs of respiratory depression were detected that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. This validates the improved guideline and suggests that some incidents may have remained undetected. Front-line staff must be involved to optimize change, champion the initiative, and promote patient safety.
-
As the complexity of analgesic therapies increases, priorities of care must be established to balance aggressive pain management with measures to prevent or minimize adverse events and to ensure high quality and safe care. Opioid analgesia remains the primary pharmacologic intervention for managing pain in hospitalized patients. Unintended advancing sedation and respiratory depression are two of the most serious opioid-related adverse events. ⋯ Additionally, the use of technology-supported monitoring is costly, with far-reaching implications for hospital and nursing practices. As a result, there are considerable variations in screening for risk and monitoring practices. All of these factors prompted the American Society for Pain Management Nursing to approve the formation of an expert consensus panel to examine the scientific basis and state of practice for assessment and monitoring practices for adult hospitalized patients receiving opioid analgesics for pain control and to propose recommendations for patient care, education, and systems-level changes that promote quality care and patient safety.
-
This study describes strategies used by the Joint Clinical Practice Council of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin to identify barriers perceived as interfering with nurses' (RNs) ability to provide optimal pain management. A survey was used to ascertain how nurses described optimal pain management and how much nurses perceived potential barriers as interfering with their ability to provide that level of care. The survey, "Barriers to Optimal Pain management" (adapted from Van Hulle Vincent & Denyes, 2004), was distributed to all RNs working in all patient care settings. ⋯ The five most significant barriers identified were insufficient physician (MD) orders, insufficient MD orders before procedures, insufficient time to premedicate patients before procedures, the perception of a low priority given to pain management by medical staff, and parents' reluctance to have patients receive pain medication. Additional barriers were identified through narrative comments. Information regarding the impact of the Acute Pain Service on patient care, RNs' ability to overcome barriers, and RNs' perception of current pain management practices is included, as are several specific interventions aimed at improving or ultimately eliminating identified barriers.