The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as; "An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage" (Raja, 2020).
Pain is useful, it provides a warning sign of illness or injury. However, once the warning sign is recognized, pain should be treated and managed. Inadequate pain management can have serious adverse effects including:
For most of us pain is a part of life from birth to death. It is the most common reason people seek medical attention, affecting more people than diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. (Click graphic to enlarge)
Because pain is identified primarily by self-report, there are certain patients who are at higher risk of having their pain undertreated. At risk individuals include infants and children, those whose primary language and cultural background differ from their healthcare providers, some elderly patients, and individuals who are developmentally delayed, cognitively impaired, or are severely emotionally disturbed.
Pain is one of the most frequent reasons that cause Americans to seek medical treatment. Unfortunately, inadequate medical treatment of pain, is a serious problem in the United States and is associated with unnecessary suffering, increased healthcare costs, workplace absenteeism and decreased quality of life. Barriers to adequate pain management often include provider: ignorance, fear and bias involving the use of analgesic opiates. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has identified a number of clinical barriers to improved pain care. These barriers include:Nurses have an ethical duty to prevent and/or manage pain. In order to fulfill these duties, nurses must:
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References
Kyle, B. N., & McNeil, D. W. (2014). Autonomic arousal and experimentally induced pain: a critical review of the literature. Pain research & management, 19(3), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/536859
Hyland, S. J., Wetshtein, A. M., Grable, S. J., & Jackson, M. P. (2022). Acute Pain Management Pearls: A Focused Review for the Hospital Clinician. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 11(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11010034
Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research. National Academies Press (US); 2011.
Raja, S. N., Carr, D. B., Cohen, M., Finnerup, N. B., Flor, H., Gibson, S., Keefe, F. J., Mogil, J. S., Ringkamp, M., Sluka, K. A., Song, X. J., Stevens, B., Sullivan, M. D., Tutelman, P. R., Ushida, T., & Vader, K. (2020). The revised International Association for the Study of Pain definition of pain: concepts, challenges, and compromises. Pain, 161(9), 1976–1982. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001939
Johannes, C; Le, T; et al. (2010) The Prevalence of Chronic Pain in United States Adults: Results of an Internet-Based Survey. The Journal of Pain Volume 11, Issue 11
Kim, W., & Kim, S. K. (2016). Neural circuit remodeling and structural plasticity in the cortex during chronic pain. The Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology : official journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology, 20(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4196/kjpp.2016.20.1.1
Nimmo, S. (2004) Benefit and outcome after epidural analgesia Continuing Education in Anaesthesia Critical Care Pain British Journal of Anaesthesia (2004) 4 (2): 44-47 Oxford University Press