Assessing pain: a vital part of nursing care
Article Abstract:
Health professionals frequently make the mistake of not assessing patients' pain thoroughly or accurately. However, there are a number of reliable ways of assessing pain. It is important to gain the trust of the patient first, as this will encourage the patient to talk openly about his or her pain. The next stage is to ask open-ended questions about what makes the pain worse or better and what the patient's desired goal for pain relief is. It is also possible to use a simple rating scale to establish the intensity of the pain.
Publication Name: Nursing Times
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0954-7762
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
How to improve pain management practices
Article Abstract:
Working in groups to collect and evaluate information will help in the reviewing of pain management. The views of patients with regard to the effectiveness of the treatment is essential and getting patients to rate their pain is a useful way to gauge this. Information must be collated and reported in such a way as to influence the established quality of pain management. Continuous evaluation must be undertaken to improve care quality and relief from pain.
Publication Name: Nursing Times
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0954-7762
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Providing family care in hospital
Article Abstract:
The delphi technique was used to find out which elements nurses see as helpful in caring for patients with terminal illness and their families. Important aspects relating to the provision of family-centred palliative care were found to be symptom control, privacy and time. Important difficulties were cited as balancing priorities, disclosure issues, inadequate privacy and managing family conflict.
Publication Name: Nursing Times
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0954-7762
Year: 1998
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Licensing proposals seek to overhaul current system. Profiling gains acceptance within profession. Tort reform focus now shifts to state legislative action
- Abstracts: Assessing and enhancing compliance with antiretroviral therapy. HIV and HAART in 1997
- Abstracts: Working in expanding roles. Growing up with a stoma. The missing links: attitudes to treating eating disorders are changing
- Abstracts: Hypogonadism caused by a single amino acid substitution in the beta subunit of luteinizing hormone. Delayed puberty and hypogonadism caused by mutations in the follicle-stimulating hormone beta-subunit gene
- Abstracts: Rationing: a dangerous game. The long and winding road. Balanced mix