Why Is Pain Management Important

Pain management is of great significance in the patient’s care. Pain is called the fifth vital sign therefore the health care professionals need to be aware of how imperative is for the patient in pain to have an effective pain management. The nurses play an important role in the assessment and care of patients with pain. Pain is a big challenge for all clinicians because of its subjective nature. The nurse has to have a good understanding of the patient’s pain to do a good assessment and take good care of him or her. The first role of the nurse in pain management is the assessment. The nurse needs to understand and respect that the pain is whatever the patient says it is, that is why the symptoms and the managements of it are highly subjective.
It is also very important to ask the patient to explain the pain in his or her own words. There are different factors to contemplate in a complete pain assessment. Intensity that can be none, mild discomfort or excruciating. Timing, this factor is of great importance to determine the cause of pain. When asking about timing the nurse investigates the onset of the pain, the duration, connection between the time and the intensity and the change in rhythmic patterns. Also, the nurse can ask the patient is the pain started suddenly or increased gradually, this indicates if there is tissue injury for
The goals are communicated and confirmed with the patient and may include decrease in the intensity of the pain or the frequency and the duration. The goal also can change depending if the pain is acute or chronic. Patients with chronic pain tend to be more depressive and to be more affected in their personal and social live, for this reason the goals are different for example, improve the quality of sleep. Different factors are considered when determining goals. These factors are the severity of the pain, harmful effects of the pain and duration of the pain. The most success-achieved goals are those that combine pharmacological and no pharmacological methods. Therefore, to achieve the established goals the nurse needs to establish a nurse-patient relationship and provide teaching. A positive and trusting nurse-patient relationship is key to success through cooperation and open communication. Demonstrating the patient that the nurse entrust him or her recognizing the pain may help reduce the patient anxiety. Teaching is also very important because when the patient has knowledge about the pain is more likely that the managing of the pain at home can be effective. The nurse provides information about pain management and