Chapter 10 - Pain Assessment Flashcards
How are white individuals different regarding cultural/racial differences in the treatment of pain?
White individuals receive more analgesic therapy than black or Hispanic individuals with similar symptoms
Neuropathic pain implies an abnormal…
processing of the pain message
An older adult patient with dementia has a pain rating of 5 on the Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) Scale. The nurse should
administer the prescribed pain medication
two main processes for pain assessment:
nociceptive and/or neuropathic processing
nociceptive processing (nociceptor)
designed to detect painful sensations from the periphery and transmit them to the CNS.
Nociceptors are located within the skin, connective tissue, muscle, and the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic viscera.
can be stimulated directly by trauma or injury or secondarily by chemical mediators that are released from the site of tissue damage
analgesic
pain killer
Pain
is a highly complex and subjective experience that originates from the central nervous system (CNS) or peripheral nervous system (PNS), or both
Nociceptors carry the pain signal to the central nervous system by
two primary sensory (or afferent) fibers: Aδ and C fibers
Aδ fibers
myelinated and larger in diameter, so they transmit the pain signal rapidly to the CNS. The sensation is very localized, short-term, and sharp in nature because of the Aδ fiber stimulation
C fibers
are unmyelinated and smaller and they transmit the signal more slowly. The “secondary” sensations are diffuse and aching, and they last longer after the initial injury
substantia gelatinosa.
interneurons located within a specified area of the cord called the
anterolateral spinothalamic tract
structure and pathway that transmits pain signals to the brain
Nociceptive pain
develops when nerve fibers in the periphery and in the central nervous system are functioning and intact.
described as aching pain
starts outside of the nervous system from actual or potential tissue damage.
can be divided into four phases:
(1) transduction
(2) transmission
(3) perception
(4) modulation
transduction
occurs when a noxious stimulus in the form of traumatic or chemical injury, burn, incision, or tumor takes place in the periphery
transmission
the pain impulse moves from the level of the spinal cord to the brain