Pain Medicine: To give or not to give? Either you or your loved one was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, first thing in mind that an individual will think is about pain. So, what is pain? Pain medication is vital in the hospital setting; it is a variety of drugs used to relieve pain. Pain is a very common symptom, there are solutions to alleviate the pain. There are kinds of medications that a person can take which are prescription medications and non-prescription medications. Wherein, non-prescription medications are called over-the-counter while prescription medications are being prescribed by the attending physician.
Moreover, medications regardless of what they are or what it does to the body should be taken with caution at all times, because over usage of pain killers can lead to further life-threatening conditions. Although, most of the people tend to buy over-the-counter medications which are accessible and instantly available to immediately alleviate the pain. Having said that, people do not know what will be the effect of frequently taking pain killers to the body.Pain medications is known to have many benefits in clinical settings. It is usually given to postoperative patients, cancer patients, terminal ill patients, elderly, psychotic patients and more. However, pain medications for this kind of patients will serve as a palliative management care to alleviate the pain they are experiencing for a certain period of time but, too much pain medications are injurious to health.
After all, health care providers should better manage the pain of the patient based on the type of pain, quality of pain, severity of the patient’s condition. Furthermore, health care providers must not give or prescribe to many pain killers which will lead to addictive, tolerance, misuse of selling it and worsen the condition of the patients. In spite of many benefits to relief the pain there are more barriers in giving pain medications.
These barriers which can lead to a huge number of patients who are not receiving best quality pain management. These barriers are not only the patients who are suffering from pain, but the problem arise from the health care providers and health care systems, too. The difficulties of health care providers may include inadequate knowledge about the pain medication, poor assessment of pain and poor communication skills with other health care professionals. As an example, if the health care provider does not properly assess or document the pain of the suffering patient, the pain was left untreated with no other interventions done. If the health care provider is keen in assessing the pain level of the patient, it is a good assessment skills, a good rapport is established and there will be a sense of trust between the health care provider and the patient. Although these three barriers are already in hospital settings; it must be polished further and with continued resources and education, the health care professionals can become an expert to effectively manage, to educate, to deliver, to promote and to improve the optimum quality pain care for all patients. Aside from pain medications, there are other alternative pain treatments that can be render to patients suffering from pain.
A therapeutic touch or tender loving care of loved one can ease down the pain of an elderly; especially, if the patient is a child who is suffering from a severe pain, a mother’s touch and love can promptly decrease the pain. Aside from this, relaxation therapy (yoga, exercise, massage), music therapy (listening to music), recreational therapy, aromatherapy and other alternative pain treatments which will aid to boost up energy, to minimize depression, to help calm body down and release tension, to have a good vibrant feeling that will deliver big benefits in patient who is suffering. For an instance, exercise such as walking and deep breathing can provide a quality life and decrease number of stressors. Having said that, not all this alternative pain treatments work for each one of patient suffering from pain. Some of it are risky but an assistance from a health care professional can take part.
To sum it up, there benefits and barriers in providing pain medications to each patient, not only pain medication can alleviate the pain of a person who is suffering but also an alternative pain treatments can be render as well. Pain can be of different forms; the process and causes of pain are complex in which it can be treated in different ways, but the relief from the pain differ from person to person, the type of pain, the severity of pain and the emotional barriers. In fact, each and every person has different level of pain tolerance.
Finally, health care providers must be fully aware about their patient’s well-being to acquire the optimal pain management care. Pain medications can start low and go slow.
