The nurse who is a member of the palliative care team is assessing a patient. The patient indicates that he has been saving his PRN analgesics until the pain is intense because his pain control has been inadequate
What teaching should the nurse do with this patient?
A) Medication should be taken when pain levels are low so the pain is easier to reduce.
B) Pain medication can be increased when the pain becomes intense.
C) It is difficult to control chronic pain, so this is an inevitable part of the disease process.
D) The patient will likely benefit more from distraction than pharmacologic interventions.
Ans: A
Feedback:
Better pain control can be achieved with a preventive approach, reducing the amount of time patients are in pain. Low levels of pain are easier to reduce or control than intense levels of pain. Pain medication is used to prevent pain so pain medication is not increased when pain becomes intense. Chronic pain is treatable. Giving the patient alternative methods to control pain is good, but it will not work if the patient is in so much pain that he cannot institute reliable alternative methods.
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