pain

Question 1

what is the experience of pain dependent on?

Answer 1

environment, emotion, tiredness, anxiety, depression and presence of other people.
Children might over react if watched
Introverts may not be as open about pain as extroverts
Culture, sex, [personality and attitude affect who asks for analgesia.

Question 2

what are some distraction techniques?

Answer 2

Shift attention
Sounds
Mental task
Visuals

Question 3

what are alternative pain relief methods

Answer 3

Hypnosis
Acupuncture
Electric analgesia

Question 4

how can pain be measured?

Answer 4

Children < 6 Wong Baker scale – face rating of 1-10

Adults McGill pain index – descriptive words

Question 5

how can anxiety be reduced?

Answer 5

o	Explanation of the procedure 
o	Be calm and instruct the patient to be calm 
o	Worn of discomfort
o	Support and reassure 
o	Give control- hand signal 
o	Breathing exercises
o	Distraction 
o	Trust

Question 6

describe placebos

Answer 6

Inert medicine given for its suggested effect. No pharmacological effect but can have a psychogenic effect making the patient less anxious.

Question 7

what does analgesia do?

Answer 7

prevents nerve conduction temporarily.

Question 8

what do vasoconstrictors do?

Answer 8

haemostasis, reduced blood flow, local ischaemia, prolongs activity and reduces toxicity.

Question 9

what are pain producing substances?

Answer 9

potassium, sodium, chloride & calcium

Question 10

how can pain receptors be sensitised?

Answer 10

presence of prostaglandins

Question 11

what conditions give rise to pain?

Answer 11

inflammation, trauma, necrosis and ischaemia

Question 12

what are the 5 stages of physiological conduction?

Answer 12

1. polarisation
2. depolarisation
3. action potential
4. reolarisation
5. resting

Question 13

describe polarisation

Answer 13

Resting potential –ve compared to exterior surface of membrane
No pain
Potassium- high concentration inside cytoplasm
Sodium- low concentration outside
^ opposite of extracellular fluid.

Question 14

describe depolarisation

Answer 14

Stimulation/excitation leads to slow phase depolarisation
Electrical potential becomes less –ve
Destruction of polarity
Ionic exchange
Sodium- higher concentration in cytoplasm
Potassium on outside
On excitation cell membrane permeability increases = initial influx of sodium ions into the cell.

Question 15

describe action potential

Answer 15

Potential difference between exterior/interior reaches peak
Concentrations are opposite
Change in membrane potential permeability
Transference of ions- sodium/potassium
Sodium/potassium movement is passive

Question 16

describe repolarisation

Answer 16

Back to normal
Sodium potassium pump (active transport) reverts ions to polarised state
Intracellular imbalance compared to resting.
Too many sodium inside and potassium outside.
Energy from oxidative metabolism of ATP

Question 17

what items contribute to conduction?

Answer 17

Nodes of ranvier: where ionic exchange of pain impulse occurs.
End feet synapse- chemical transmission

Question 18

how does an impulse travel when there are no nodes of ranvier

Answer 18

Impulse moves from initial area of depolarisation to the next contiguous segment of nerve.