Articles: pain-management-methods.
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Multimodal pain management techniques using femoral and sciatic nerve blocks can dramatically improve a patient's experience after total knee arthroplasty. Nerve blocks reduce postoperative pain and the need for parenteral opioids and result in fewer medical complications associated with opioid use. ⋯ Although it is difficult to isolate the added benefit of sciatic nerve blocks, there is a growing body of evidence for using femoral and/or sciatic nerve blocks as part of a multimodal approach to pain management. With many years of experience and published results on thousands of patients, it is clear that the risks of peripheral nerve blocks are minimal, whereas the benefits are substantial.
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J Soc Work End Life Palliat Care · Jan 2012
Interdisciplinary hospice team processes and multidimensional pain: a qualitative study.
Hospice teams may address multidimensional pain through the synergistic interaction of team members from various professional disciplines during regularly scheduled team meetings. However, the occurrence of that critical exchange has not been adequately described or documented. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore two processes in team pain palliation: communication and collaboration. ⋯ In addition, structural influences inhibited creativity in pain palliation. There was no mutual understanding of the purpose for team meetings, no recognition of the need to reflect on team process, or common definition of leadership. Social work roles in hospice should include leadership that moves teams toward interdisciplinary care for multidimensional pain.
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of brief therapy dog visits to an outpatient pain management facility compared with time spent in a waiting room. ⋯ Therapy dog visits in an outpatient setting can provide significant reduction in pain and emotional distress for chronic pain patients. Therapy dog visits can also significantly improve emotional distress and feelings of well-being in family and friends accompanying patients to appointments and clinic staff.
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I see many children suffering from sore throat and acute pharyngitis. Some adult studies describe faster pain relief when sore throat is treated with steroids. Would a single dose of a steroid, as an anti-inflammatory agent, provide accelerated pain relief for sore throat in children? ⋯ A single dose of oral dexamethasone (0.6 mg/kg, maximum 10 mg) leads to significantly (P < .05) faster onset of pain relief and shorter suffering, especially in children with severe or exudative group A β-hemolytic streptococcus-positive acute pharyngitis.