Carter, L. (2017). Managing chronic pain in cancer survivors; Thorough assessment is the first step in pain management for these patients. American Nurse Today , 12(4).
Cancer survivors are among the most susceptible population to chronic pain. Therefore, medical practitioners must develop a detailed assessment of how to identify the population's pain and come up with a comprehensive treatment plan. The author explains that the experience of pain is unique to every individual. This is essentially because pain can be aggravated by psychosocial, emotional, spiritual, and physical issues that the client faces. Managing chronic pain for cancer patients can be a difficult task. The author explains that there are populations within recovering cancer patients that may be at risk of undertreatment. These include children, drug abusers, or people with a history of drug abuse, minorities, and the elderly. It is, therefore, important for medical practitioners to be well educated in pain management education. The author points out that not all feelings of pain indicate cancer recurrence and that a clinician's knowledge of cancer pain syndromes can help identify the cause of pain and the treatment method. Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, steroids, hormonal therapy, and stem-cell transplantation are possible pain sources for cancer survivors. Clinicians must tailor their patient's pain management to their individual needs. The author suggests an interdisciplinary team made up of the nursing staff, client's health care provider, and required members within the patient's team to plan the program. The patient can receive pharmacologic therapy or use opioids in managing the pain, depending on the information from the pain assessment. Pharmacologic therapy is best suited for relieving inflammation, neuropathic pain, mild and moderate pain, and alleviate symptoms like nausea and fatigue. Opioids are used when pain is too severe to be managed by non-opioid medicine when pain limits the patient's functionality and limits their quality of life. The author cautions on the use of opioids as they can be misused. She explains that patients with behavior that suggests opioid misuse should be tapered off and discontinued using the drugs. They should also be referred to addiction or pain specialists. The author also explains that nonpharmacologic therapy may also be utilized in managing chronic pain. These include psychological approaches, integrative therapies, physical and occupational therapy, and interventional therapies.
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