Comfort is used as a broad term. The meaning of comfort can vary from person-to-person. The Webster’s Dictionary defines comfort as, “to relieve from distress and lessen misery” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). The impact of pain is increasingly prevalent with advancing age. As a nurse, especially in gerontology, it is important to understand pain and comfort in older adults. How does pain tie into the topic of comfort? In the elderly, pain is the greatest threat to comfort. Pain is an important indicator of a person's health status. It can be described as an unpleasant emotional or sensory experience. Pain is also stated as, “subjective and relies on the patient’s perception and report” (Eliopouos, 2017). Pain is common is the older population. …show more content…
There are many different theories on why pain becomes more prevalent with age. Pain is unique to each patient. As a nurse it is important to assess and understand each patients personal pain experience. There are many consequences and complications related to unrelieved pain. It is essential for the nurse to provide effective pain management. For example, if it is painful for a patient to move they will avoid movement. When they avoid movement they are at an increased risk of developing skin breakdown. To avoid situations like this, it is important for the nurse to provide accurate pain …show more content…
It is important to get a list of medications, locate pain, and get a description of the pain. Performing an ongoing assessment is essential to determine the status of pain. When working with older adults with cognitive impairments, such as dementia and alzheimer's disease, it is sometimes challenging to perform the assessment. These patients may have a difficult time interpreting their symptoms of pain. Once the nurse finds a unique response to pain, it is important to note it in their chart for future references. It is also important to review the patient’s cultural beliefs. The textbook states, “In some cultures, people may be socialized to tolerate pain without expression.” (Elioupous, 2017). It is important for the nurse to thorough in the assessment so they do not misread situations like this. Many factors can be associated with
Management of pain is very important when it comes to palliative care patients, considering that 55-95% of this patient population requires analgesia for pain relief (Creedon & O’Regan, 2010, p. [ 257]). But what is considered pain management? And why does pain continue to be inadequately treated? According to the article on chronic non-cancer pain in older people: evidence for prescribing, in the past few decades significant improvements have been made to the management of pain in palliative care. However, it is universally acknowledged that pain on a global scale remains inadequately treated because of cultural, attitudinal, educational, legal, and systemic reasons (Creedon & O’Regan, 2010, p. ...
A. Chronic pain signifies a developing public health issue of huge magnitudes, mainly in view of aging populations in developed countries (Russo).
What exactly is pain? According to Webster's dictionary, pain is "physical suffering typically from injury or illness; a distressing sensation in a part of the body; severe mental or emotional distress". Most everyone reading this paper has experienced some form of physical pain at some point during their lives; most everyone has even experienced the common daily pains such as stubbing our toe as we walk through the living room, accidentally biting our tongue as we chew, and having the afternoon headache after a long day of work. No matter the fact that it is unpleasant, pain has a very important role in telling the body that something is not right and leading to behavior that will remove the body from a source of potential injury. Imagine if we could not experience pain. We would not be able to change our behavior in any way when touching the burning hot dish in the oven, resulting in potentially serious burns. We could not recognize that perhaps we twisted an ankle when walking down the stairs, thus continued walking on that foot would exacerbate the injury to the point of not being able to walk at all. Indeed, pain is not pleasant, but in many cases it is an important way for our nervous system to learn from and react to the environment.
Pain is not always curable but effects the life of millions of people. This essay examines the Essence of Care 2010: Benchmarks for the Prevention and Management of Pain (DH, 2010). Particularly reflecting on a practical working knowledge of its implementation and its relevance to nursing practice. It is part of the wider ranging Essence of Care policy, that includes all the latest benchmarks developed since it was first launched in 2001.
The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion of the application and evaluation of Post-Operative pain management in elderly patients with dementia in a rehabilitation setting.
It is evident from the literature that, the adverse effects of dementia make changes in patients quality of life by changing their behavioural and functional abilities including expression of feelings or communicational skills. As a result, it becomes a challenge for the health care provider to assess or identify pain or symptoms of pain in dementia patients when they are unable to articulate their needs. Using a pain measurement tool helps the health care provider to meet this challenge, thus improve the pain management in persons with severe cognitive impairment. Throughout the research, in order to find out the suitable diagnostic tool for pain assessment in patients with advanced dementia, author reviewed studies on different pain assessment
on Pain Care will evaluate the adequacy of pain assessment, treatment, and management; identify and
Under-treatment is common because of the misguided perceptions many healthcare providers have for older adult patients. In Dr. Erdman Palmore’s Ageism Survey (2001) of community-dwelling older adults ages 60 to 93, 43% of respondents reported that “a doctor or nurse assumed my ailments were caused by my age,” and 9% said they were “denied medical treatment because of age.”(cite) Situations like these are detrimental because if the symptoms are because of a legitimate problem that is overlooked due to old age, a patient’s health can worsen and a small problem can grow into something fatal. Furthermore, a patient who is told that a symptom is because of their old age can internalize those negative feelings that the physician expresses, and can then become depressed due to believing that they are helpless. Negative attitudes affect people’s physical and mental health. A few opinions that healthcare providers have about older patients that cause under-treatment are evident in a current cross-sectional survey, the Expectations Regarding Aging Scale, which assessed perceptions of aging. The majority of providers surveyed were primary care providers (PCP). PCP’s include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians. Over 60% of PCPs agreed with the statements “Having more aches and pains is an accepted part of aging” and “The human body is like a car: when it gets old, it gets worn out” (61%). Another 52% agreed that one should expect to become more forgetful with age, and 17% agreed “mental slowness” is “impossible to escape,” (cite). An example of under-treatment of a symptom in an older adult is back pain. Pain is commonly under-treated among older adults. While patients may already have ageist expectations about the
Findings. Pain has many different meanings to many people. What is important to know as a nurse or health care provider is that pain is what the patient says it is. It is not the nurse or provider’s place to determine what the patient’s pain is but rather take an in-depth history and assessment. Using this assessment and history can therefore help treat your patient’s pain accordingly. Also pain theories have been proposed and used the implications of nursing practice in regard to pain.
This essay will aim to look at the main principles of cancer pain management on an acute medical ward in a hospital setting. My rational for choosing to look at this is to expend my knowledge of the chosen area. Within this pieces of work I will look to include physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of pain management.
End of life pain management is an important function of hospice organizations. Families and patients alike are comforted by the fact that, at the end, there are resources which allow for a comfortable death. Much of the quality of hospice care is determined by patient family members. In 2005, the Brown Medical school conducted research with regard to t...
The general idea of, K, is that a nurse must have knowledge in the diversity of cultures, ethics, and education. The significance of this faction being that if the nurse is cognizant of the patient 's culture, beliefs, family values, support systems, and education level, a more thorough and comprehensive plan of care can be formulated. The premise of, S, is that a nurse must be skilled in the ability to communicate with and advocate for the patient, assess for and properly treat pain, and incorporate the needs and concerns of the patient and their family. The significance of this group and development of these skills include the achievement of pain control, increased rehabilitation periods, and an increase in patient/family satisfaction. The theme of, A, requires that a nurse maintains an open attitude toward the patient and to respect and validate the nurse-patient relationship, which will aid in a positive nurse-patient
The major concepts deduced from the hypothesis fall under three categories: (1) multimodal intervention, (2) attentive care, and (3) patient participation. Multimodal intervention includes the concepts of potent pain medication, pharmacological adjuvants, and non-pharmacological adjuvants. Attentive care relates to the assessment of pain and side effects and intervention along with reassessments. Patient participation includes goal setting and patient education. The resulting outcome of these three categories working together is the balance between analgesia and side effects.
This assignment critically discusses about dementia, a widespread disability among older adults today. It provides an introduction to dementia and analyses its prevalence in society. The various forms of dementias are elaborated with description about dysfunctions and symptoms. Nursing Assessment and Interventions are provided in the further sections which discusses about actions nurses should take on while evaluating patients and treating them. Finally, communication, an important Activity of Daily Living (ADL) is explored and patient/carer advice is presented so as to maintain good health conditions in the patient.
As we age our bodies change, our abilities to care for our selves lessen and we start to rely more on our caregivers for the proper care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 2015 there will nearly 89 million people by 2015 who are 65 years of age of older. This will be almost double the elders there were in 2010. This means that as a nurse we will see an increase in elders in the hospital needing care. A study done in 2009 stated that “64% of caregivers of persons 50 years of age or older with a chronic or disabling condition” (Earlea & Heymann, 2012, p. 359).