Organisation has defined ethics in healthcare as being ‘concerned with moral principles, values and standards of conduct’ (WHO, 2015, p.10). Numerous ethical matters can arise within the healthcare realm. These may be related but not exclusive to the delivery of care, professional veracity, data handling, the utilisation of human subjects in research, and the employment of new controversial practices (WHO, 2015). Nurses are accountable to the public and therefore are greatly regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) and the International Council of Nursing (ICN). Through codes of conduct and ethics these regulatory bodies legally obligate nurses to acquire four central responsibilities: ‘to promote health, to prevent illness, …show more content…
The value of non-maleficence, or, ‘to do no harm’ prohibits the infliction of harm and is correlated to effective pain management, as poorly managed pain causes harm to the patient. This harm includes anxiety, and possibly depression, related to suffering pain. By failing to reasonably treat a patient in pain, this results in harm. Persistent inadequately treated pain has both physical and psychological influences on the patient (Brennan, Carr & Cousins, 2007). Failing to act is a form of abandonment according to Carr (2001). The World Health Organisation defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. Ineffective pain management would contradict this definition of health; hence the provision of adequate pain management is imperative to high quality patient care. Pain which is untreated can delay healing and lead to cardiac, respiratory and endocrine complications (Brennan, Carr, & Cousins, 2007). Conversely, it could be argued that the principle of non-maleficence is upheld when morphine is not prescribed. By commencing Anna on the morphine there is potential for harm which could leave Anna in a poorer state of
Psychology truly is everywhere. “The Pain Medication Conundrum” is a news story that was published on August 13, 2015 in the New York Times written by Danielle Ofri. The news story discusses the confusing and difficult problem that the prescribing of pain medication has caused. In summary, the news story explains a situation where an old man, in his mid-60s, entered his primary doctor’s office asking for a prescription of oxycodone for pain because the clinic where he used to get it from closed. In the six months that the doctor had been seeing him, he was unaware that his patient was taking narcotic pain medication.
In the article, “Sometimes Pain Is a Puzzle That Can’t Be Solved”, Abigail Zuger, the author, describes her own experiences with pain along with some examples and generalizations about the feeling. She claims that she is “ruled by (her) elbow” and “it is (her) constant companion, whimpering, and tugging at (her) sleeve.” She goes on to say that many people have the same problems, especially when drugs, “like naproxen and ibuprofen” are unhelpful and “might as well be cornflakes.” Finally, she explains how far we have advanced in the medical field, but “ none of (the) knowledge has translated into new treatments,” to help people such as herself.
“Pain” by Diane Ackerman is a story about pain. The author describes how people can withstand pain, and how difficult it is to define pain “which may be sharp, dull, shooting, throbbing, imaginary” (301). Culture and tradition are very important on people lives. Therefore, many of them do incredible things, in Istanbul for example “teenage boys dressed in shiny silk fezzes and silk suits decorated with glitter” (300), or in Bali people “go into trances and pick up red-hot cannonballs from an open fire, than carry them down the road” (298). This is just couple examples of controlling our body.
Amidst a whirlwind of change, nurses continue their roles as competent, honorable professionals. A relatively new issue, cultural integrity, correlates with the Code regarding “treatment of the human response.” The American Nurses Association’s “Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements”, also called the Code, highlights nurses’ consensus on professional principles. Nursing ethics guide how practitioners treat their patients and peers. Sensitivity to individual societal, familial and cultural background plays an important role in organizational integrity.
In this crosspost, the author will elaborate on the original threaded discussion by Ellerbee Mburu, Vail, and Barlow and add additional information on pain assessment and management. Healthcare providers are the major group of healthcare professional who perform crucial functions in delivering and providing nursing care to inpatient and outpatients. As mentioned in the threaded discussion by Ellerbee, Mburu, Vail, and Barlow, undertreated pain causes unnecessary distress and negatively affects the quality of life. In additional to the original threaded discussion, pain is a factor that is thought of differently by many. It has been added as the fifth vital sign and is considered to be subjective.
We all know that pain is usually one of the major complaint of patients with chronic problems or those recovering post operatively thereby making pain evaluation a fundamental requisite in the outcome assessment during hospital visits. Interpreting the data from a pain assessment scale is not as straightforward as it may seem since the provider must consider the intensity, related disability, duration, and affect to define the pain and its effects on the patient (Williamson & Hoggart, 2005). Pain rating scales are used in the clinical settings to measure pain and these include Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), Numerical/numeric Rating Scale (NRS) (Haefeli & Elfering, 2006). Each scale is unique on its own in terms of sensitivity and simplicity that generates data that can be statistically analyzed for audit purposes. The EHR in our hospital utilizes the three rating scales mentioned as part of the pain assessment tool to measure pain that sets the tone for the direction of the type of pain management will .be given to the
Supporters claim that physical pain should be an individual right. They believe that there should be no law that prohibits someone to suffer (Hook, 1989 p. 245). Olvera supports the idea expressing that PAS should be a legal alternative when there is no other form of pain relief (Olvera, 2015). However, Wagner states that there is anther alternative to stop pain and suffering such as training doctors to give more pain relief and anesthesia to patients. Even though some people may fear becoming addicts to theses medications (Wagner, 1998 p. 246).
The first provision states that “the professional nurse practices with compassion and respect for individuals and families regardless of economic status, personal attribute or the nature of the health problem”. Basically, everyone is treated equally with the same quality of care regardless of race, ethnicity, and ability to pay or attitudes about health. This includes the patient that is “pain seeking”. Nurses often have difficulty treating patients with dignity when they think the patient is only there to get pain medicine. This is not how we as nurses should behave.
According to a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2016), approximately one individual out of five patients established with a pain-related conditions, is recommended to use opioids for their pain. This practice has continued with time increasing the levels of opioid use among different patients. Medical practitioners have contributed largely to the increase of opioid usage because they are the ones who prescribe these drugs mostly to the patients. However, they have established a major challenge facing them on the prescription of these drugs, as there is a confluence of pain control versus the danger of misuse of such prescriptions. These facts have increased the need to curb this situation before it becomes impossible to deal
Human beings generally always want to avoid pain. Whether it be emotional or physical, we try to find ways to relieve and/or replace discomfort with some comfort. Physicians and other healthcare professionals are faced with patients daily who want most if not all of their pain taken away. To address this concern, doctors can prescribe painkillers to help alleviate some of the pain. However, those painkillers, specifically opioids, are becoming a problem as they are being abused and people are becoming addicted to them.
Some patients prefer not to take pain medication because they fear addiction or may have a history of substance abuse. Educating the patients on their right to be free of pain and having their pain managed aggressively is a priority in the recovery phase. The goals that I hope to achieve during this clinical practicum
D-The patient arrived on time for her session and informed this writer that she has decided to remain with the clinic as she learned on her own that no detox facility will accept her because she is testing negative and currently on methadone. The patient further mentioned that she is questioning as to whether or not her sister and her mother would help her as they said they would; however, the patient had a moment and looked back when her family did not help her as she struggled with her children. Furthermore, the patient reports, her sister did not give her the $80.00 for her rent. The patient reports that she had asked some guy for assistance. This writer addressed with the patient about her employment status and money management.
The cost of pain soars higher than the cost of; cancer, diabetes, and heart disease (Gaskin, Richards 2013). The amount of money being wasted on pain medication is wreaking havoc on the American economy. The cost of pain debt does not include the cost of other medications, and treatments to fix the problems that pain medications caused. The amount of debt that is being accrued due to pain medication needs to be decreased with the use of non-pharmacologic interventions. Physician and caretakers implementing non-pharmacologic interventions and not prescribing pain medications upon request will help lower the amount of debt that American’s have negligently raised.
“In much of the country, the counties with the lowest levels of social capital have the highest overdose rates” (Dasgupta 183). Drug use is now commonly used as a coping method for emotional pain caused by social stressors and economic hardships. Social stressors are to blame for eroding humanities physical and mental well-being. The easiest approach for treatment and relief from emotional and physical pain seems to be prescribing opioids for immediate results; however, it is not the most effective.
Psychological Assessment and Management of Chronic pain Evaluating a chronic pain condition from a biological perspective is limiting, and often fails to fully explain the patient’s symptoms. In contrast to the biomedical model, which explains pain purely in terms of pathophysiology, the biopsychosocial model views pain, suffering and disability, as the result of dynamic interactions among biological, psychological, behavioral, social, cultural and environmental factors. Consequently, assessment requires not only the examination of the biological dimension, but of the psychological and social dimensions as well. A patient’s experience of pain and response to any treatment for pain are affected not only by biologically determined nociceptive (nervous system transmission) processes, but also by psychological factors such as mood (for example, depression, anxiety) and appraisals (thoughts and beliefs about the pain), as well as by psychosocial factors such as the responses of others (for example, family, friends,