Recognizing the Patient’s Expertise and Fostering a Caring Relationship
Discuss about the Pain Assessment Strategy.
Pain assessment is the evaluation of pain as reported by a patient (Curzen et al., 2014). The following review looks into the ways of minimizing the pain and how the patient responds to treatment. Patients react differently to the assessment strategies. The response depends on the type and magnitude of the pain. The background of the patient and the intensity of the pain also determine how that patient responds to treatment. The nurse firstly asks the patient of the causative agents of the injury. The nurse proceeds to inquire about the site of the injury and how long the patient has suffered from it. The nurse then asks about the past medical records. The nurse then questions about how the pain is affecting the patient. This paper explains the eight strategies of pain assessment and the role of nurses in implementing the plan.
The nurse should first recognize the Patient’s expertise. The practitioner has a clinical knowledge of a significant number of pains. However, they must respect the patient’s opinion. When the patient does not get the chance to speak their minds, they feel undervalued. Thus, their response to treatment might be slow. Therefore, letting the patient talk first is a right treatment approach as it paves the way for joint care. When the patient visits the hospital, the nurses should warmly welcome them and encourage them to share their experiences. From the sharing of experiences, physicians can gauge how the patient looks at their condition and treatment options. Physicians need the skills to be their treatment springboard.
When sharing their experiences, patients can suggest the kind of treatment that best suits him, thus enhancing person-centered care. Nurses get the platform to inform the patient about the available treatment options during the interaction. Only the patients who share their experiences get satisfied with their healthcare provision at the hospitals (Gélinas, Puntillo, Levin, and Azoulay, 2017). When the nurse ignores the take of the patient on the illness, they disrespect those patients. The patient-nurse interaction fosters a good working relationship between the two. Additionally, the free sharing of experience equips the doctor with valuable treatment experience. The physician can quickly suggest a treatment option to suit the patient. The patient should be frank enough to share all information regarding their health status. Therefore, patient’s knowledge must gain recognition.
After listening to the pain experience of the patient, the nurse should foster a caring relationship with the patient. The nurse and the patient should rely on respect and trust to build a working partnership. An excellent therapeutic patient interaction makes the patient optimistic about the treatment process (Gupta et al., 2015). Additionally, the patient becomes faithful to the procedures of medical care. The nurse must sense their needs and those of the patients. The physician should meet the treatment requirements of the patient during their interaction stages. The clinician should recognize and accept the spiritual beliefs of the patient. Furthermore, in case of a language barrier, the practitioner should hire the services of a translator.
Using Critical Thinking and Decision-Making in Assessing the Patient’s Situation
The nurse should console patients who become emotional when sharing their pain experiences. A proper relationship should provide peace to the patient. Additionally, an appropriate therapeutic interaction aids in the quick recovery of the pain patient. The physician should introduce themselves to the patient as the first step. The nurse should always call the name of the patient when they are holding any form of conversation. The practitioners should respect the privacy of the patients. The doctor should be a good listener to understand the ordeals of the patient. The physician should look directly into the eyes of the patient. Maintenance of eye-to-eye conversation ensures concentration. A proper therapeutic relationship between practitioners and patients boosts the reputation of the health facility. The connection is evidence-based therefore an essential care tool.
After the establishment of therapeutic interactions, nurses should employ clinical thinking and decision making to assess the patient’s situation. The critical nursing positions should assist the physicians to formulate the assessment plan (Kaasalainen et al., 2017). Additionally, critical decision-making aids in choosing the best treatment method. Clinical reasoning refers to the collection of information and essential clues by physicians. The clinician then understands the pain that the patient is undergoing. Therefore, the nurse should look at measures to assist the patient to overcome the anxiety. The physician should then do an evaluation exercise and take clinical lessons from the nursing experience gained in assessing one patient.
Clinical reasoning emanates from the clinical thinking. The thinking refers to a judgment of purpose and self-atonement. The thought utilized mental properties which include: analysis and interpretation. Additional psychological components are inference and evaluation. Moreover, explicit evidence and conceptualization are requirements of critical thinking. A good model of thinking should base on in-depth concepts. Additionally, a precise method and criteria should follow the thinking process. The clinical reasoning should be careful, direct and focus on pain of the patient. The physician should be intelligent to understand the pain that the patient is undergoing. Moreover, conclusive clinical thinking and reasoning should aid in the preparation of an assessment plan and treatment options. Nurses and health practitioners develop clinical thinking and reasoning from medical schools. Moreover, industrial training broadens their minds on treatment options.
The nurse utilizes critical reasoning and thinking to arrive at an appropriate decision making. The next step involves the acquisition of the proper equipment to assess the level of the patient’s pain. Additionally, the physician should determine in good time to create an opportunity for appropriate treatment. There are various tools that the physician can use evaluating the conditions of the patient including Gloves and Goggles (Kingsnorth et al., 2015). The clinician can use gloves as a protection against contamination by bacteria (Lewis, 2016). Goggles protect the eye from harmful chemicals during the treatment process (Lichtner et al., 2014). The physicians assess the condition of the pain to determine its level of adversity.
Determining the Appropriate Tools for Assessment and the Evaluation Process
The assessment process is a detailed procedure hence it forms the basis of pain management. A competent nurse should come up with appropriate tools to ready for assessment. Apart from Goggle and gloves, other devices include the thermometer, stethoscope, and the weighing machine. The thermometer measures the body temperature of the patient (Mann, and Carr, 2018). When somebody is in pain, their temperature rises due to the disruption of the normal functioning of the body systems (Olsson et al., 2015). The stethoscope perceives any sounds in the body (Stang, Hartling, Fera, Johnson, and Ali, 2014). Nurses should have it ready since pain leads to unusually cracking sounds. The weighing machine measures the weight of the patient. The emergence of depression lowers the pressure of the individual.
A thorough assessment procedure follows the body assessment using tools such as thermometer and stethoscope. The nurse should first look at the history of the illness. Medical conditions that began in the recent time are relatively difficult to manage than long-lasting situations (Trogrli? et al., 2015). The patient has a history of medical conditions that have been in existence for an extended period (Thull-Freedman et al., 2018). Therefore, they can share the history of pathogenesis and treatment options with the physician. The clinician in turns performs treatment with an informed decision. The treatment of a patient who is suffering from the condition for the first time required research into the best treatment options. The physician should determine the location of the pain. Situations that are bordering critical organs such as the heart should receive urgent attention.
The physician should assess the duration of time of the pain. Long-standing pain should receive priority. Short term pain should come after the long-term ones. Thus, the doctor has to follow the standard operating procedures to counteract the depression. The physician should categorize the pain according to their characteristic. Highly itching pain require immediate attention. The level of aggravation is also an essential factor. Aggravation factors speed up the dangers of the illness (Volkow, and McLellan, 2016). The physician should prevent the emergence of the escalating elements to reduce the intensity of the pain. Lastly, the clinician should look for viable pain treatment options. The patient should choose the best care that suits their preferences.
The assessment process precedes the clearance, disposal, and replacement of used healthcare equipment. Professional practice dictates that nurses eliminate used clinical equipment. Additionally, the physician can clean recycled material (van Boekel et al., 2017). Clinicians should replace Non-recyclable equipment with new ones (Ware et al., 2015). The cleaning should be thorough. Items that are recyclable should not go to waste. However, nurses should dispose of equipment such as razors after the process of treatment. Clinicians should target new machine with a new set of patients. The cleaning department in health facilities should use hot and antiseptic water (Zaccagnino, and Nedeljkovic, 2017). The water boiled and that is above the boiling point destroy bacterial and viral infections. Health facilities should provide the necessary equipment for treatment purposes. Moreover, the facilities should be enough to cater for the needs of all patients.
Disposal and Replacement of Equipment to Enhance Patient Safety
Nurses should carry out the three activities to enhance the safety of pain patients. A health practitioner who does not observe hygiene goes against the nurses’ professional code of conduct. Some equipment is sharp hence the practitioners should handle them with great care when washing them. Disposal should occur in a safe environment away from human settlement. Chemical remains in the equipment can halt the health of people who come across them. When replacing equipment, the new one should outdo the previous item. Pain is a critical medical condition that requires careful handling. Health practitioners should adopt the habit of cleaning, disposing and replacing used care equipment after treatment.
The cleaning, disposal or used items come before the documentation process. The health practitioner needs to keep clear patients records. Well-kept records enable the doctor to attend to the pain patient in the future conclusively. Document keeping allows the physician to predict the pattern of infection. The clinician should record the patient’s experience. The patient can suggest the treatment method that best suits their preferences. Additionally, a registered nurse needs to have precise records of the assessment performed on the patient. The document gives the doctor easy time in attending to a different patient having similar pain conditions. The health facility can use the records to gauge the competence of the practitioner.
Clinicians who keep elaborate records are deemed more competent than their colleagues who are poor at keeping clear records. Patient’s files should contain all the necessary information that the doctor requires to offer assistance. Additionally, the practitioner should ask the questions needed to receive appropriate clinical answers. The physician should be in a position to interpret the recordings. Furthermore, another individual should find the documents to be useful. The health facility can use the documentation to design a new treatment procedure. After a successful documentation process, the physician should implement the pain relief strategy. The patient should leave the health facility in a better condition than how they came in. The pain relief technique should assist the patient to scale-down the level of pain. Therefore, proper documentation is essential and irreplaceable.
Consideration of the assessment approach is the last strategy and comes immediately after documentation. The nurse should look back at the pain reduction technique that they suggested to the patients. If the patient complains that the process is not favorable, the clinician should change the method. A health facility should adopt the strategy that relieves patients of pain. After the patient has gone to their residential areas, they should regularly visit the health facility to record the progress. If the development is positive, then the hospital should adopt the treatment procedure. However, when the patient’s response is weak, the practitioners can consider other options. In other cases, the treatment techniques may be useful, but the customer may be non-responsive.
The board of nurses requires the nurses and other health practitioners to carry out a reflective approach to treatment. The reflection helps the hospital to gauge the methods of treatment that are not functioning and those that are working. Moreover, doctors can identify patients who do not respond to treatment. Therefore, the physicians can suggest the alternative modes of medical care for such patients. The clinician should closely monitor the progress of patient under different treatment schemes. The practitioner should indicate the method of treatment that yields the best result. The best way to care is the one that most patients choose whenever they visit the health facility. Therefore, reflection is an integral part of pain reflection strategy.
Conclusion
Pain assessment strategies are used to address the injuries of patients. The registered nurses play a vital role in making the assessment process a success. A nurse exercises professionalism by taking a step-wise approach to assessing the pain. The nurse suggests the appropriate treatment options for the patient to choose their preference. The nurse first asks the patient about the cause of the pain and for how long the injury has been in existence. During the interrogations, the nurse should exercise a high level of professionalism by maintaining a therapeutic relationship with the patient. The nurse should then advise the patient of the various treatment options. The patient chooses the option that suits their cultural beliefs. After the treatment, the nurse should evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment patient’s treatment option.
References
Curzen, N., Rana, O., Nicholas, Z., Golledge, P., Zaman, A., Oldroyd, K., Hanratty, C., Banning, A., Wheatcroft, S., Hobson, A. and Chitkara, K., 2014. Does routine pressure wire assessment influence management strategy at coronary angiography for diagnosis of chest pain?: The RIPCORD study. Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, 7(2), pp.248-255.
Gélinas, C., Puntillo, K.A., Levin, P. and Azoulay, E., 2017. The Behavior Pain Assessment Tool for critically ill adults: a validation study in 28 countries. Pain, 158(5), pp.811-821.
Gupta, A., Kesavabhotla, K., Baradaran, H., Kamel, H., Pandya, A., Giambrone, A.E., Wright, D., Pain, K.J., Mtui, E.E., Suri, J.S. and Sanelli, P.C., 2015. Plaque echolucency and stroke risk in asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Stroke, 46(1), pp.91-97.
Kaasalainen, S., Zacharias, R., Hill, C., Wickson-Griffiths, A., Hadjistavropoulos, T. and Herr, K., 2017. Advancing the pain management in older adults agenda forward through the development of key research and education priorities: A Canadian perspective. Canadian Journal of Pain, 1(1), pp.171-182.
Kingsnorth, S., Orava, T., Provvidenza, C., Adler, E., Ami, N., Gresley-Jones, T., Mankad, D., Slonim, N., Fay, L., Joachimides, N. and Hoffman, A., 2015. Chronic pain assessment tools for cerebral palsy: a systematic review. Pediatrics, 136(4), pp.e947-e960.
Lewis, J., 2016. Rotator cuff related shoulder pain: assessment, management, and uncertainties. Manual therapy, 23, pp.57-68.
Lichtner, V., Dowding, D., Esterhuizen, P., Closs, S.J., Long, A.F., Corbett, A. and Briggs, M., 2014. Pain assessment for people with dementia: a systematic review of systematic reviews of pain assessment tools. BMC Geriatrics, 14(1), p.138.
Mann, E. and Carr, E., 2018. Pain management. Foundation Studies for Caring: Using Student-Centred Learning, p.259.
Olsson, E., Atladóttir, S.M.A., Axelin, A., Campbell-Yeo, M., Eriksson, M., Peltonen, E., Stevens, B., Yamada, J. and Andersen-Dovland, R., 2015. Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the revised version of the Premature Infant Pain Profile: An effort to improve pain assessment in infants in the Nordic countries. In 10th International Forum on Pediatric Pain, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1-4 October 2015.
Stang, A.S., Hartling, L., Fera, C., Johnson, D. and Ali, S., 2014. Quality indicators for the assessment and management of pain in the emergency department: a systematic review. Pain Research and Management, 19(6), pp.e179-e190.
Thull-Freedman, J., Pols, E., Mitra, T., Lethebe, C., Williamson, T., Mudiayi, D. and Stang, A., 2018. Improving the Pain Experience for Children with Limb Injury: A Quality Improvement Initiative.
Trogrli?, Z., van der Jagt, M., Bakker, J., Balas, M.C., Ely, E.W., van der Voort, P.H. and Ista, E., 2015. A systematic review of implementation strategies for assessment, prevention, and management of ICU delirium and their effect on clinical outcomes. Critical Care, 19(1), p.157.
van Boekel, R.L., Hoogervorst-Schilp, J., de Blok, C.A., Steegers, M.A., Spreeuwenberg, P.M. and Wagner, C., 2017. Postoperative pain assessment in hospitalized patients: the national survey and secondary data analysis. Improving postoperative pain care, 63, p.49.
Volkow, N.D. and McLellan, A.T., 2016. Opioid abuse in chronic pain—misconceptions and mitigation strategies. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(13), pp.1253-1263.
Ware, M.A., Wang, T., Shapiro, S., Collet, J.P., Boulanger, A., Esdaile, J.M., Gordon, A., Lynch, M., Moulin, D.E. and O’Connell, C., 2015. Cannabis for the management of pain: assessment of safety study (COMPASS). The Journal of Pain, 16(12), pp.1233-1242.
Zaccagnino, M.P., and Nedeljkovic, S.S., 2017. Pain assessment tools. In Pain Medicine (pp. 77-81). Springer, Cham.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
