3/30/2023 0 Comments Picktorial 3![]() ![]() The treatment for these two kinds of pain differs, so it is essential that the clinician is able to recognise the presence of nociceptive and/or neuropathic pain before deciding on an appropriate intervention.Īn underused approach to communicating pain involves the use of images to depict pain qualities, although a small number of structured instruments have recently been developed for use with adults. Patients who have mixed aetiology may experience sensations from both groups. Neuropathic pain tends to be burning, tingling, numb, sensitive, electrical or cold, while nociceptive may be described as sharp, pressure, sore, shooting, achy, throbbing or dull. 7 A review of neuropathic pain assessment instruments 8 described the key sensations caused by the two main types of pain – nociceptive and neuropathic. The quality of pain may be assessed using, for example, the multidimensional McGill pain questionnaire 6 or a neuropathic pain assessment scale such as the Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs (LANSS). There may be many reasons for this, including not speaking the host language, poor literacy, learning disability, dementia and conditions such as stroke that can cause communication impairments. However, this is problematic when patients are unable to describe their pain verbally. 4, 5 It is often stated and has generally been accepted that pain is whatever the patient says it is. 3 Neuropathic pain prevalence has been estimated to be around 8% within the general population. Studies from Europe 1 and the United States 2 have reported a prevalence of one in five and one in three, respectively, and it has been reported that chronic pain affects more than 14 million adults in England alone. Considerable work is needed to develop a set of images which is sufficiently culturally appropriate and effective for general use.Ĭhronic pain is common in the developed world. Education, verbal ability, ethnicity and a multiplicity of other factors may influence the understanding and use of such images. Clearly, attention needs to be given not only to the content of images designed to depict the sensory qualities of pain but also to the differing audiences who may use them. There was a significant difference between the two student groups, with nurses being significantly better at interpreting the images than the design students. Only 2 of the 12 images were correctly interpreted by more than 70% of the sample. The images were extremely heterogeneous in their ability to convey qualities of pain accurately. They were asked to provide as many or as few as occurred to them. Students were asked to write down words or phrases describing the quality of pain they felt was being communicated by each image. Images were presented to 25 student nurses and 38 design students. This study aimed to test the ability of a set of 12 images depicting different sensory pain qualities to successfully communicate those qualities. ![]() A little used approach to communicating the quality of pain is through the use of images. It may include neuropathic elements which require specialised treatment. Chronic pain is common and difficult for patients to communicate to health professionals. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |