engleski

Cancer Pain Management Barriers: Can We Overcome Them ? Nursing interventions

As a nursing diagnosis pain is defined as:“ The state in which an individual experiences and reports the presence of severe discomfort or an uncomfortable sensation.“ The most frequently cited definition of pain is from pain management pioneer Margaret McCaffery, RN: “Whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever he says it does.” Sadly, pain is all too often undertreated. The WHO describes cancer pain as “commonly undertreated and frequently neglected as health care problem”. The reasons for this are multifactoral ; poor identification of just how much pain the patient is experiencing, reluctance on the part of the sufferer to admit to pain and, most frequently, a poor understanding of analgesics. The nurse is in a prime position to allay the patient's fears, to educate him and to ensure that effective pain control is integrated into the complete programme of healthcare provided for the patient. In particular, when nursing patients for whom the prospect of cure is remote or non-existent, putting pain control at the forefront of palliative care is crucial. Nurses have more constant contact with patients than other healthcare professionals and this places them in a unique position to assess patient's needs for pain control and to monitor the success of interventions in bringing pain relief. They need to understand the physiology of pain, the pharmacology of analgesic drugs, the nursing management of pain and complementary (or alternative) techniques which are available for pain control. Nurses need to be familiar with scales for measuring pain and be aware of other factors that are important in assessing patient distress. The nurse will need to explain treatment and strategies to patients and their families and be able to make informed contributions to discussions of patient care with other members of the healthcare team.

pain management, nursing interventions

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