The mother of a cancer patient comes to the nurse concerned with her daughter's safety. She states that her daughter's morphine dose that she needs to control her pain is getting "higher and higher."
As a result, the mother is afraid that her daughter will overdose. The nurse educates the mother about what aspect of her pain management?
A) The dose range is higher with cancer patients, and the medical team will be very careful to prevent addiction.
B) Frequently, female patients and younger patients need higher doses of opioids to be comfortable.
C) The increased risk of overdose is an inevitable risk of maintaining adequate pain control during cancer treatment.
D) There is no absolute maximum opioid dose and her daughter is becoming more tolerant to the drug.
Ans: D
Feedback:
Patients requiring opioids for chronic pain, especially cancer patients, need increasing doses to relieve pain. The requirement for higher drug doses results in a greater drug tolerance, which is a physical dependency as opposed to addiction, which is a psychological dependency. The dose range is usually higher with cancer patients. Although tolerance to the drug will increase, addiction is not dose related, but is a separate psychological dependency issue. No research indicates that women and/or younger people need higher doses of morphine to be comfortable. Overdose is not an "inevitable" risk.
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