The nurse is caring for a client complaining of a backache and administers ibuprofen. The client asks the nurse how the medication will help the pain. The nurse understands that ibuprofen's effect occurs during which phase of nocioception?

Question

1. Transduction
2. Transmission
3. Perception
4. Modulation

Answer 1

1
Rationale 1: Since ibuprofen blocks the production of prostaglandin, it acts during the transduction phase.
Rationale 2: In the transmission phase, the pain impulse travels from peripheral nerve fibers to the spinal cord to the brain stem and thalamus and ultimately, to the somatic sensory cortex.
Rationale 3: Perception occurs when the client becomes aware of the pain.
Rationale 4: Modulation is the process by which neurons in the brain stem send signals back down stimulating the release of neurotransmitters that can inhibit the ascending pain impulses.