Assessing pain control in nonverbal critically ill adults.

The accurate assessment of pain in nonverbal patients is difficult, with nurses often relying on a variety of methods to determine medication impact. Much of the evidence to date suggests that commonly used indicators of pain may not effectively measure the true extent of distress in patients unable...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 260 - 268
Autores principales: Odhner M, Wegman D, Freeland N, Steinmetz A, Ingersoll GL
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Nov/Dec2003
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The accurate assessment of pain in nonverbal patients is difficult, with nurses often relying on a variety of methods to determine medication impact. Much of the evidence to date suggests that commonly used indicators of pain may not effectively measure the true extent of distress in patients unable to verbalize their level of discomfort. A recent pilot study of an existing and newly developed pain assessment scale reinforces this concern.