Pain Assessment
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Opioids should not be mixed with other CNS depressants medications
Patients taking opioids should be assessed for respiratory quality, level of sedation, and level of
consciousness
Heat and ice application to relieve pain is simple but effective tool
Nurses have a key role to play in advocating for non pharmacological interventions in the
management of pain
Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation
Massage Therapy
Physiotherapy
Pediatric Strategies
Brief Pain Inventory: Patient rates the pain within the 24 hours, using graduated scaled (0-10)
Faces pain scale
Acute Pain: How much pain they can tolerate before it interferes with functioning or
rehabilitation exercises
Neuropathic Pain: Decreased or increase sensation or numbness over the affected area
Chronic Pain: Extended period of time after the acute phase
Acute Pain Behaviours: Unable to verbalize the presence of pain for a variety of reasons
Intubated people or nonverbal are at high risk for the undertreatment of pain
Persistent (Chronic) Pain Behaviours: Person adapts over time, and clinicians must not
anticipate the same behaviours as in acute pain
Multimodal Analgesia
Initial Pain Assessment
Onset
Provocative/palliative
Quality of the pain
Region of the body/radiation
Severity of pain
Treatment/timing
Understanding of pain
Values