Poor Pain Management: Pathophysiology- Critical Appraisal Assignment

Internal Code: MAS1176

Critical Appraisal Assignment:

Assessment: Assessment of pain has been identified as one of the most common barriers to effective pain management in hospital settings. Royal College of Anaesthetists and Royal College of Surgeons recommend that pain should be identified as the fifth vital sign and should be properly documented (Finnerup et al 2015). In normal practice however, it has been observed that pain is often under-assessed. Nursing professionals often fail to ask patients about pain being experienced and this result in poor assessment of the same (Yuxiang et al 2012). Research also indicates that inappropriate choice of assessment tools also contributes to poor management. A wide variety of assessment tools have been developed so as to gather information from patients who are experiencing different levels of pain (Rawlinson et al 2012). These include simple tools such as verbal or numeric rating scales as well as complex tools that involve asking lengthy questions and shading appropriate body areas (Duke et al 2013). Where tools involving lengthy questions might not always be applicable in acute pain situations, verbal and numeric scales might lead to interpretation difficulties. Inconsistent interpretation might further add to poor pain management as these scales require implementation of different pain management strategies in accordance with levels of pain being experienced (Kozlowski et al 2014). Another prominent problem with the use of assessment tool arises while trying to isolate the location of pain (Oliver et al 2012). This is especially the case with patients who are unable to communicate either verbally or in writing. In such cases, nursing professionals completely depend on their own experience and interpretation to appropriately access and manage pain thereby increasing scope for errors (Roberts-Turner 2016). Question: Conduct a critical appraisal of the article & submit the article together with your appraisal.Identify the research design, methods and results, including a level of evidence.