Articles: patients.
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We investigated attitudes toward resuscitation by interviewing 97 competent patients classified as do not resuscitate, 60 physicians, 80 family members, and 84 nurses. In addition, 58 family members of incompetent do not resuscitate patients were interviewed. Interview patients were generally elderly, female widows with a diagnosis of malignancy. ⋯ Sixty-four patients (66%) did not think discussing resuscitation was cruel and insensitive. Eighteen physicians (30%) said they were uncomfortable discussing resuscitation with patients. We recommend introducing the topic of resuscitation early in the patient-physician relationship before diminished competency occurs.
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Treatment of chronic low back pain (CLBP) is not only expensive, but is frequently not totally effective. For these reasons, it is important that the risk factors that correlate with the development of chronic pain be considered at the early stage of acute low-back pain (ALBP) in order to implement early treatment to prevent the condition from becoming chronic. ⋯ In light of the need to contain costs, a program for the prevention of chronic back pain can only be provided for those ALBP patients with an increased risk of having CLBP. Further research on the prevention on CLBP is needed.
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Most patients with very advanced cancer suffer from severe pain, and many studies have demonstrated how this pain can be sufficiently controlled. It is of great importance to find out if the findings are also true during the final stage of cancer and how the treatment must be adapted. We therefore examined the methods and efficacy of providing pain relief for dying cancer patients. ⋯ Only 4% of the patients treated in the way described experienced severe pain during the final stage of cancer. Systemic administration of drugs is very effective in relieving pain in dying patients. No signs of tolerance to opioids could be observed, even in patients who had been taking opioids for a longer period of time (average 39 days).
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A central antinociceptive effect of calcitonin has been well established in animal experiments. Owing to the lack of appropriate studies, however, a final judgement cannot be made regarding the value of calcitonin in pain therapy. Positive clinical experiences have been reported in the following cases. (1) In isolated osseous tumor pain and in pain caused by tumorous infiltration of peripheral nerve tissue or acute malignant transverse lesions of the spinal cord (with paraplegia), calcitonin can be a suitable supplement to opiate therapy. (2) In algodystrophy calcitonin can be administered in addition to physical therapy. ⋯ Dangerous side-effects have not been reported to date. However, dose-dependent side-effects occur frequently, which the patients often consider very distressing. The disadvantages and the "escape" phenomenon that occur during longterm use restrict the value of calcitonin as an analgesic.
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The relationship of patients' pain with emotions and irrational attitudes were reported. The subjects were 128 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The assessment instruments were the Situation-Reaction Questionnaire (SRQ) and the Irrational Attitudes Questionnaire (IAQ). ⋯ On the other hand, when medical variables and irrational attitudes were controlled, emotions showed no common variation to pain. According to our results, cognitive concepts seem to be more powerful for explaining pain experience and pain behavior than affective constructions. Implications for the study and the practice of psychological pain treatment are discussed.