Pain medicine : the official journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine
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Our study examined the effect of health care workers' personal characteristics on how they perceive and intend to treat patients' pain in the intensive care unit. Though pain perceptions have been well established from the patient's perspective, less is known about how variations in health care workers may affect their perceptions of pain. ⋯ Health care providers' race, age, level of education, and medical subspecialty were significant factors affecting their perceptions of pain management and intended treatment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Preoccupation in an early-romantic relationship predicts experimental pain relief.
Individuals involved in the early stages of a passionate romantic relationship can be consumed by the experience and report emotional dependence and constant focus on their romantic partner. A few studies have shown that viewing pictures of a romantic partner can significantly reduce experimental pain. The strength of the effect, however, varies substantially between individuals. To study why some individuals experience significant pain reduction when looking at a picture of their partner, we examined partner preoccupation. We hypothesized that a greater degree of preoccupation in the early stages of a romantic relationship would be associated with greater analgesia during a pain induction task. ⋯ In two separate experiments, viewing pictures of a romantic partner produced an analgesic effect. The degree of pain relief was positively correlated with partner preoccupation. The results suggest that preoccupation with a romantic partner during early stage romantic love is a predictor of pain relief when viewing pictures of the beloved.
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Back pain is the most common type of pain reported by older adults, leading to considerable morbidity and cost. Yet little is known about the segment of the population ≥80 years old that can be used to guide care in this age group. Illness representations provide a useful framework to understand older adults' beliefs and perceptions of their back pain. The objective of this study was to understand illness representations of back pain, severe enough to restrict activity (restricting back pain). ⋯ Thematic analysis revealed that restricting back pain in older adults has variable and noteworthy physical, psychological and social consequences.There are several components of the illness representation of restricting back pain, specifically,the perceptions of consequences and control that may offer potential targets for clinical intervention.
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In the absence of a suitable reference standard, diagnostic local anesthetic blocks cannot be validated in the manner conventionally used for diagnostic tests. Consequently, diagnostic blocks are vulnerable to criticism for lacking validity, or being "not proven." ⋯ The eight criteria provide an axiomatic, philosophical basis for diagnostic blocks in general, and serve to show what empirical evidence needs to be gathered in order to validate a particular block. The associated metric allows the scientific evidence for different blocks to be quantified and compared.
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Observational Study
Duloxetine use in employees with low back pain: treatment patterns and direct and indirect costs.
The study aims to examine real-world effects of duloxetine treatment for low back pain (LBP). ⋯ Duloxetine treatment in LBP employees was associated with reduced rates of many nonsurgical therapies and lower indirect costs. The findings are limited by the observational study design and unmeasured potential confounders.