NURS 1710 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Central Nervous System, Opioid, Insomnia
Document Summary
Scientific knowledge base: nature of pain: pain, subjective and highly individualized, protects a person from a harmful stimulus, exists when the patient says it exists, careful assessment is critical. Inability to express pain doesn"t mean the patient is pain free. Physiology of pain (cont. : low to moderate intensity pain; superficial pain, sympathetic stimulation, severe or deep pain, parasympathetic stimulation. If untreated, can progress to chronic pain: chronic pain, behavioral responses. Acute and chronic pain: unrelieved pain can cause permanent neuroplastic changes. Nursing knowledge base: knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, misconceptions about pain, accurate pain assessment, assess pain in every patient, select proper therapies, evaluate the effects. Factors influencing pain: physiological factors, age, fatigue, neurological function, gender, fatigue heightens pain perception, social factors, spiritual factors, cultural factors, attention, previous experience, family and support, loss of independence, becoming a burden. Factors influencing pain (cont. : psychological factors, meaning of pain, anxiety, depression, coping style (internal/external loci)
