Articles: pain-management-methods.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Dec 2011
ReviewBlocks for pain management in children undergoing ambulatory surgery.
Data from the USA show that the number of paediatric outpatient procedures has increased by almost 50% during the time period 1996-2006. Despite this increasing trend with regards to ambulatory surgery in children postoperative analgesia is still often suboptimal. The aim of this review is to give an overview of different regional anaesthesia techniques that successfully can be used in paediatric ambulatory surgery. ⋯ Current evidence strongly supports the use of various regional anaesthetic techniques in paediatric outpatient surgery. However, further studies are needed to identify the incidence and severity of pain following different common ambulatory surgical procedures in children as well as comparative prospective randomized trials comparing different regional techniques as well as comparing regional anaesthesia to the best current combination of oral analgesics.
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Pain is not only one of the most undesirable side effects of cancer but also one of its major complications. This study attempted to evaluate and describe the pain characteristics and pain control in patients with advanced cancer and to identify factors related to effective analgesic treatment. ⋯ Negative attitudes and feelings toward treatment combined with deficits in patient education/information seem to influence both pain response and therapy compliance suggesting the need for more comprehensive approach to pain management of cancer patients.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Dec 2011
Sedation and weaning from mechanical ventilation: linking spontaneous awakening trials and spontaneous breathing trials to improve patient outcomes.
The use of sedation has long been integrated into critical care. Because pain, discomfort, anxiety, and agitation are commonly experienced by critically ill patients, the use of medications to alleviate and control these symptoms will continue; however, data showing that prolonged use of sedating medications imparts harm to patients obligate physicians to use agents and methods of sedation that minimize these negative side effects. ⋯ Regardless of choice of sedating agent, and even when patient-targeted sedation protocols are used to minimize oversedation, the use of spontaneous awakening trials dramatically improves patient outcomes for critically ill patients. Intensive care physicians must continue to study the delivery of sedation in efforts to maximize patient comfort while minimizing patient harm.
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The study was set in an Australian tertiary public hospital multidisciplinary pain center. ⋯ Changes to conceptual framework inevitably influence the practicalities of service delivery. The application of a whole-person model for persistent pain brought improved engagement with the individual in pain and more efficient delivery of care at a systems level.
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Nursing & health sciences · Dec 2011
Attitudes, beliefs, and practices of Sri Lankan nurses toward cancer pain management: an ethnographic study.
Cancer pain is a serious problem that requires specialized nursing knowledge. In the present ethnographic study, we sought to explore the experiences and cancer pain management practices of nurses working at a government hospital in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from October 2007 to January 2008, and were obtained by observing the nurses in a cancer ward, conducting semistructured interviews with 10 participants, and maintaining a research diary. ⋯ Additionally, the nurses are not autonomous, and are required to refer to medical staff for cancer pain management strategies. The nurses work in a task-oriented system that rarely acknowledges cancer patients' pain management needs. This study might improve nursing pain management practices for cancer patients and lead to changes in the curriculum of nursing courses in Sri Lanka.