The patient has metastatic bone pain from cancer with nausea and vomiting after receiving periodic opioid analgesia intravenously. Which can the nurse implement to manage the patient's pain effectively without nausea and vomiting?

Question

a. Dispense the opioid 30 minutes after pro-viding food.
b. Combine the opioid with an antiemetic or antihistamine.
c. Collaborate with the healthcare provider for around-the-clock analgesia.
d. Replace the analgesic with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent.

Answer 1

C
Metastatic bone pain can be very difficult to control for a patient with cancer. The nurse colla-borates with the provider to convert intravenous (IV) opioid administration to around-the-clock (ATC) dosing because ATC administration maximizes the pain relief and minimizes most side effects and drug toxicity. Administering opioids with food is an effective technique to avoid nausea and vomiting but usually only when the opioid is given by mouth. Although administering an antiemetic and/or an antihistamine with an opioid analgesic is a reasonable method of managing the patient's nausea and vomiting, the periodic schedule is not as effective as ATC dosing. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents may be used in combination with opioids for bone pain, but they do not replace the opioids.