Definition
Pain management encompasses pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and other approaches to prevent, reduce, or stop pain sensations.
Purpose
Pain serves as an alert to potential or actual damage to the body. The definition for damage is quite broad; pain can arise from injury as well as disease. After the message is received and interpreted, further pain can be counter-productive. Pain can have a negative impact on a person's quality of life and impede recovery from illness or injury. Unrelieved pain can become a syndrome in its own right and cause a downward spiral in a person's health and outlook. Managing pain properly facilitates recovery, prevents additional health complications, and improves an individual's quality of life.
Description
What is pain?
Pain is generally divided into two categories: acute and chronic. Nociceptive pain, or the pain that is transmitted by nociceptors, is typically called acute pain. This kind of pain is associated with injury, headaches, disease, and many other conditions. It usually resolves once the condition that caused it is resolved.
Following some disorders, pain does not resolve. Even after healing or a cure has been achieved, the brain continues to perceive pain. In this situation, the pain may be considered chronic. The time limit used to define chronic pain typically ranges from three to six months, although some healthcare professionals prefer a more flexible definition, and consider chronic pain as pain that endures beyond a normal healing time.
The pain associated with cancer, persistent and degenerative conditions, and neuropathy, or nerve damage, is included in the chronic category. Also, unremitting pain that lacks an identifiable physical cause, such as the majority of cases of low back pain, may be considered chronic. The underlying biochemistry of chronic pain appears to be different from regular nociceptive pain.
Evidence is accumulating that unrelenting pain or the complete lack of nerve signals increases the number of pain receptors in the spinal cord. Nerve cells in the spinal cord may also begin secreting pain-amplifying neurotransmitters independent of actual pain signals from the body. Immune chemicals, primarily cytokines, may play a prominent role in such changes.
Scientists have long recognized a relationship between depression and chronic pain. In 2004, a survey of California adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder revealed that more than one-half of them also suffered from chronic pain.
Goal
Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, Inc. recognizes the importance of pain management as part of a quality lifestyle. Hospice professionals work hand-in-hand with the patient’s attending physician and/or hospice medical director to assure pain management is addressed and the goal(s) of the patient are met with respect to pain management. Each person has a different level of pain acceptance and tolerance and hospice professionals strive to ensure the patient’s level of pain is manageable and relieved if at all possible.
Pain management encompasses pharmacological, non-pharmacological, and other approaches to prevent, reduce, or stop pain sensations.
Purpose
Pain serves as an alert to potential or actual damage to the body. The definition for damage is quite broad; pain can arise from injury as well as disease. After the message is received and interpreted, further pain can be counter-productive. Pain can have a negative impact on a person's quality of life and impede recovery from illness or injury. Unrelieved pain can become a syndrome in its own right and cause a downward spiral in a person's health and outlook. Managing pain properly facilitates recovery, prevents additional health complications, and improves an individual's quality of life.
Description
What is pain?
Pain is generally divided into two categories: acute and chronic. Nociceptive pain, or the pain that is transmitted by nociceptors, is typically called acute pain. This kind of pain is associated with injury, headaches, disease, and many other conditions. It usually resolves once the condition that caused it is resolved.
Following some disorders, pain does not resolve. Even after healing or a cure has been achieved, the brain continues to perceive pain. In this situation, the pain may be considered chronic. The time limit used to define chronic pain typically ranges from three to six months, although some healthcare professionals prefer a more flexible definition, and consider chronic pain as pain that endures beyond a normal healing time.
The pain associated with cancer, persistent and degenerative conditions, and neuropathy, or nerve damage, is included in the chronic category. Also, unremitting pain that lacks an identifiable physical cause, such as the majority of cases of low back pain, may be considered chronic. The underlying biochemistry of chronic pain appears to be different from regular nociceptive pain.
Evidence is accumulating that unrelenting pain or the complete lack of nerve signals increases the number of pain receptors in the spinal cord. Nerve cells in the spinal cord may also begin secreting pain-amplifying neurotransmitters independent of actual pain signals from the body. Immune chemicals, primarily cytokines, may play a prominent role in such changes.
Scientists have long recognized a relationship between depression and chronic pain. In 2004, a survey of California adults diagnosed with major depressive disorder revealed that more than one-half of them also suffered from chronic pain.
Goal
Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, Inc. recognizes the importance of pain management as part of a quality lifestyle. Hospice professionals work hand-in-hand with the patient’s attending physician and/or hospice medical director to assure pain management is addressed and the goal(s) of the patient are met with respect to pain management. Each person has a different level of pain acceptance and tolerance and hospice professionals strive to ensure the patient’s level of pain is manageable and relieved if at all possible.
