Author Question: The nurse is planning care for a patient with chronic pain. Which pain control goal would be most ... (Read 129 times)

leo leo · **on:** Jun 25, 2018

The nurse is planning care for a patient with chronic pain. Which pain control goal would be most appropriate for this patient?

1. Reduce the focus on pain.
2. Reduce the sympathetic stress response.
3. Be completely pain free.
4. Improve patient outcomes.

Question 2

A patient scheduled for knee surgery tells the nurse, I know I won't feel as much pain with this knee surgery as I did with the other one when I was 20 years younger. What should the nurse respond to this patient?

1. There might be more pain, because the pain response can get worse with aging.
2. You are most likely correct.
3. It should not be quite as bad with the newer technology.
4. Pain responses diminish with age.

spencer.martell · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 25, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Correct Answer: 1
With chronic pain the pain itself becomes the problem, creating physical, psychosocial, and economic stresses on the affected individual and the family. Furthermore, emotional and psychologic factors can cause the pain itself or make it worse. Reducing the sympathetic pain response and improving patient outcomes would be appropriate acute pain management goals. Being completely pain free might be an unattainable goal for a patient with chronic pain.

Answer to Question 2

Correct Answer: 1
Pain tolerance decreases with aging, perhaps related to the prevalence of chronic pain in this population. The nurse should not agree that the patient will have less pain because this may not occur. The amount of pain may or may not be impacted by the use of newer technology. The pain response does not diminish with age.