This text based course is a transcript of the live webinar titled, "Evaluation and Management of Pain", presented by Belkis Landa-Gonzalez, Ed.D., OTR/L on June 4, 2012.
Introduction and objectives
In today’s presentation, I aim to provide you with an overview of the physiological background of pain, to distinguish between acute pain and chronic pain, and go over some of the factors we need to consider as part of the assessment, as well as the best practice principles to implement in the management process. I am sure that all of you have worked with clients experiencing pain. Whether you are working in an acute setting, skilled nursing, or home setting, pain is a problem that will come to our attention. We need to be able to address and manage pain to the best of our abilities. We will be covering some of the pain management principles today.
Pain: Definition and Misconceptions
In general, pain is defined as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that is associated with actual or potential tissue damage” (Merskey & Bogduk, 1994). Whether there is damage or not, the experience for the individual is an unpleasant sensation. Pain is often described as a fifth vital sign, and there are some misconceptions associated with it. One misconception is that pain is all in the mind of whoever experiences it. Some, but not all, types of pain are psychogenic in nature, where there is no physical musculoskeletal damage or any other physical condition to justify a cause for the presence of that pain. However, that does not mean the pain is not present and the person is not experiencing it as such.
