Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses
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Severe pain is a common symptom of sickle cell disease (SCD). Transitions between adult and pediatric care are a point of particular vulnerability for patients, increasing the risk for poor pain management. The purpose of this literature review was to investigate the relationships among self-efficacy, transition, and SCD health outcomes. ⋯ If providers can identify individuals in this population with low self-efficacy, they may be able to intervene early to improve patient outcomes. Most identified studies point to the positive correlation between self-efficacy and positive health outcomes in adolescents with SCD. Self-efficacy has the potential to guide self-care interventions and further research with the SCD population.
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Cancer is a worldwide health problem. In Jordan, cancer is the second leading cause of death. Approximately 2,000 people die from cancer every year, 70% of them experiencing varying high levels of pain as a result of ineffective pain relief. ⋯ The A-BPI results identified that more than 70% of cancer patients in localized stage and more than 90% of patients with advanced cancer experienced substantial pain. Four major barriers to pain control were highlighted: fears related to addiction, side effects, communication concerns, and fatalistic beliefs. This study provides baseline information about the barriers to effective cancer pain control in Jordan.
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Multicenter Study
Generating and selecting pain indicators for brain-injured critical care patients.
Current pain assessment tools for nonverbal critical care patients may not be appropriate for those with brain injury, as these patients demonstrate specific responses to pain. The aim of this study was to generate and select items that could be used to assess pain in brain-injured patients. A sequential mixed-method design was chosen with three consecutive steps: 1. ⋯ All physiologic items showed little variability and their reliability was low. Based on these results, the number of items was reduced to 23. This study identified items that could be specific to brain-injured patients and found that the variability of physiologic items was poorly assessed by clinicians.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of cyclooxygenase-2-specific inhibitors on postoperative analgesia after major open abdominal surgery.
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)-specific medications on postoperative analgesia after major open abdominal surgery. This is was a prospective, randomized controlled, double-blind study conducted on 90 patients who underwent major open abdominal surgery between September 2011 and June 2012, in the General Surgery Department, Jinling Hospital. After written informed consent, patients were prospectively and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups before surgery, and were scheduled to receive different analgesic drugs according to randomization. ⋯ The group that received intravenous parecoxib for 3 days, and continued oral celecoxib for 4 days had better postoperative analgesia than other groups. COX-2-specific inhibitors are safe and effective in reducing postoperative pain in patients who have undergone major open abdominal surgery. Additionally, sufficient postoperative analgesia, lasting for 1 week, was necessary for patients to obtain satisfactory pain control after major open abdominal surgery.
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This study aimed (1) to examine the feasibility of an auricular point acupressure (APA) research protocol in terms of recruitment and for the assessment and management of pain and (2) to examine the potential APA analgesic effects for cancer patients. This study was a repeated-measures one-group design. Participants were recruited from the cancer center follow-up clinic affiliated with a large university hospital in the northeastern United States. ⋯ APA appears to be highly acceptable to patients with cancer-related pain. However, without a placebo control, we cannot draw conclusive evidence for the analgesic effect of APA for cancer patients. A sham group must be added to future studies to differentiate the true effects of APA from the possible psychological effects of the APA treatment.