Ooh! It hurts!
This is essential to adequate pain relief.
What is a comprehensive pain assessment?
Discomfort, ache, hurt, fatigue.
What are words that Veterans might use instead of "pain"?
Non-opioids, opioids, adjuvants.
What are types of analgesics?
This analgesic and antipyretic medication is good for musculoskeletal pain, but is contraindicated in persons with liver disease who drink more than 2-3 alcoholic beverages per day.
What is acetaminophen (Tylenol)?
This is the only absolute contraindication to use of opioid pain medications.
What is hypersensitivity reaction (wheezing, edema)?
Decreasing the perception of pain, increasing adaptive pain behaviors, and decreasing maladaptive pain behaviors.
What are the goals of non-pharmacologic interventions?
Delirium, dementia, aphasia, language, culture.
What are barriers to communication of pain?
Nociceptive type of pain that comes from joints, bones, muscles and other soft tissues.
What is somatic pain?
Oral, sublingual, mucosal, rectal, transdermal, topical, intravenous, subcutaneous, intramuscular, nasal.
What are available routes of administration of medications?
These anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic medications are good for bone pain, but are contraindicated in persons with peptic ulcer disease and kidney disease.
What are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)?
Sedation, urinary retention, nausea, itching.
What are possible side effects of opioids?
These focus on perceptual and thought processes, while reducing the distress of the pain experience, and modifying behaviors to help patients cope with pain.
What are cognitive-behavioral therapies?
The percentage of persons experiencing life-threatening or terminal illness who experience pain.
What is 75%?
Change in routine, mental status changes, appetite changes, moaning (such as might be seen in a patient with dementia).
What are behavioral signs of pain?
A common side effect of opioids to which tolerance never occurs.
What is constipation?
This term refers to a drug's lack of effectiveness, and risk of adverse effects, beyond a certain dose.
What is the ceiling effect?
This should be applied to non-hairy areas of skin, where there is no edema and good capillary flow (such as the torso or upper arms), and changed every 72 hours.
What is a fentanyl patch?
Heat/cold, massage, re-positioning, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) unit.
What are physical pain relief strategies?
The number of American adults who experience chronic pain.
What is 100 million?
A condition in which normal contact with the skin is experienced as very painful.
What is allodynia?
A normal physiologic state of adaptation to a drug that may necessitate higher doses for effectiveness.
What is tolerance?
Antidepressants, anticonvulsants, local anesthetics, corticosteroids.
What are examples of adjuvant analgesics?
This is the reason that immediate-release doses for breakthrough pain may be administered at the same time as long-acting form is needed.
What is because the long-acting form does not peak for 4-5 hours?
These may be culturally based and include: herbal preparations, magnet therapy, and Ayurveda.
What are complementary therapies.
Inadequate assessment, fear of side effects, fear of addiction, fear of hastening death.
What are the barriers to pain management?
"Same" vs. "different" pain, intensity, quality, effectiveness of current regimen.
What are important elements to include in communicating with medical providers about a patient's pain?
Term describing the dose of one medication that would provide the equivalent effectiveness of a different medication.
What is equianalgesia?
These three types of adjuvant medications can be effective in treating neuropathic pain/
What are tricyclic antidepressants, atypical antidepressants (SNRIs), and anticonvulsants?
This may be done when one opioid is no longer effective, or when adverse effects are not manageable.
What is opioid rotation?
This is the reason patients should report ALL herbal and over-the-counter medications and complementary therapies they are using to their nurse/health care provider.
What is because they may interact with prescribed medications.