Pain Management In Nursing

To manage pain effectively, a nurse must assess, understand, and treat the patient’s pain and then reassess the pain on an ongoing basis. The Joint Commission emphasizes that every patient has a right to pain assessment and treatment. It means that a nurse must assess the nature and intensity of the pain and document the findings in a way that facilitates further assessment and follow-up. In that context, pain is indeed the fifth vital sign ("Pain Management," n.d.).
The nurse will assess Lillian pain by asking if she is in pain, and if she answer yes, then the nurse will perform a thorough pain assessment, including the intensity, quality, location, timing (onset, duration, frequency), symptoms, treatments (prescription and nonprescription),
effects on function/daily activities, and what has and has not worked in the past. Asking the patient to rate his pain is not enough ("Pain Management," n.d.). Ask the following questions when your patient reports pain:
When did the pain start?
How long have you had the pain? Does it come and go or is it continuous? Where is the pain located? Does it radiate to other areas? Describe your pain. Is there a specific factor that triggers the pain? Does the pain have any specific pattern? Does anything make it better or worse? Does it vary with the time of day? Is the pain new or have you had this pain before? If so, when? Does the pain cause any other symptoms? What do you do take to ease the pain? What other treatments do you use to relieve the pain? How severe is the pain? (Remember to use a pain scale to determine this.) How does the pain affect your life? Your daily activities? What is your goal for pain
relief?
As a nurse it is important to assess pain before administering the acetaminophen and because it is PO the nurse should assess before and 1 hour after administration because that is normal time frame for PO drugs to work.
Zolpidem belongs to a class of drugs called sedatives or hypnotics. Zolpidem Depresses CNS by binding to gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors. Its onset is rapid with a peak of 30 minutes to 2 hours and a duration of 6-8 hours. You would use Zolpidem cautiously in: pulmonary disease hepatic or severe renal impairment, history of psychiatric illness, suicide attempt, or substance abuse, elderly or debilitated patients, pregnant or breastfeeding patients, children ("Zolpidem Uses, Dosage & Side Effects - Drugs.com," n.d.)
The factors that contribute to Lillian fall may be as a result of age, sensory problem, vision problem, medication Lillian is taking because Some medications can increase a person's risk of falling, they cause side effects like dizziness or confusion, wet floor, balance and gait, it may also be as a result blood pressure that drops too much when she gets up from lying down or sitting can increase your chance of falling (Causes and Risk Factors," n.d.).
References
Lilley, L. L., Collins, S. R., & Snyder, J. S. (2014). Pharmacology and the nursing process (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.
PainManagement.(n.d.).Retrievedfromhttp://www.atitesting.com/ati_next_gen/skillsmodules/content/pain-management/equipment/pain-assessment.html
Zolpidem Uses, Dosage & Side Effects - Drugs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.drugs.com/zolpidem.html
NIHSeniorHealth: Falls and Older Adults - Causes and Risk Factors. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://nihseniorhealth.gov/falls/causesandriskfactors