Pain Management Important Terms

Question 1

acute pain

Answer 1

protective, usually has an identifiable cause, is of short duration, and has limited tissue damage and emotional response

Question 2

addiction

Answer 2

a neurobiological disease which cause one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and craving

Question 3

adjuvants

Answer 3

coanalgesics, a variety of medications that enhance analgesics or have analgesic properties

Question 4

analgesics

Answer 4

relieving pain; drug that relieves pain

Question 5

chronic pain

Answer 5

not protective; is prolonged, varies in intensity, and usually lasts longer than 3 to 6 months and beyond the expected or predicted healing time

Question 6

biofeedback

Answer 6

a technique that enables individuals to learn how to modify their physiological processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and skin temperature, for the purpose of improving health and performance

Question 7

cutaneous stimulation

Answer 7

stimulation of a person’s skin to prevent or reduce pain perception. a massage, warm bath, hot and cold therapies, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation are some ways to reduce pain perception

Question 8

epidural analgesia

Answer 8

a form of regional anesthesia

Question 9

guided imagery

Answer 9

method of pain control in which the patient creates a mental image, concentrates on that image, and gradually becomes less aware of pain

Question 10

idiopathic pain

Answer 10

chronic pain that either does not have an identifiable physical or psychological cause or is perceived as excessive for the extent of an organic pathological condition

Question 11

local anesthesia

Answer 11

the local infiltration of an anesthetic medication to induce loss of sensation to a body part

Question 12

modulation

Answer 12

4th and final phase of the normal pain process; when mediators such as endorphins, serotonin, norepinephrine release to help produce analgesic effects

Question 13

multimodal analgesia

Answer 13

combining drugs with at least two different mechanisms of action to optimize pain control

Question 14

nociception

Answer 14

an observable activity in the nervous system that allows people to detect pain

Question 15

opioids

Answer 15

drug substance derived from opium or produces synthetically that alters perception of pain and that, with repeated use, may result in physical and psychological dependence

Question 16

pain threshold

Answer 16

the lowest intensity at which a given stimulus is perceived as painful

Question 17

pain tolerance

Answer 17

the level of pain a person is willing to accept

Question 18

patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)

Answer 18

drug delivery system that allows patients to self-administer analgesic medications on demand

Question 19

perineural infusions

Answer 19

the administration of medications or fluids directly into the perineural space, which is the area surrounding a nerve

Question 20

pseudoaddiction

Answer 20

a condition resembling drug addiction but caused by underprescription of drugs to treat pain in a patient, leading them to seek more medication

Question 21

regional anesthesia

Answer 21

loss of sensation in an area of the body supplied by sensory nerve pathways

Question 22

transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)

Answer 22

technique in which a battery-powered device blocks pain impulses from reaching the spinal cord by delivering weak electrical impulses directly to the surface of the skin

Question 23

transduction

Answer 23

convertion of energy produced by a thermal, mechanical, or chemical stimulus that activates a pain event into electrical impulses

Question 24

transmission

Answer 24

transmitting electrical pain impulses