Postoperative patients’ perspectives on rating pain: A qualitative study

Dijk, Jacqueline F.M. van; Vervoort, Sigrid C. J. M.; Wijck, Albert J. M. van; Kalkman, Cor J.; Schuurmans, Marieke J.

doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.08.007

Cited by 51 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, patients know that nurses sometimes doubt that their pain is truly severe, and patients said it hurt their feelings when they were not taken seriously (Van Dijk et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…It is not known why postoperative patients give high NRS scores but refuse analgesics, especially opioids. Barriers À such as fear of addiction and side effects, lack of knowledge about the negative consequences of pain and a desire to look tough À play a role (Van Dijk et al 2016). In addition, if patients are in pain, it is important that they accept opioids when lighter analgesics are not enough to reduce the pain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Postoperative pain: knowledge and beliefs of patients and nurses

Dijk

PhD

Alblas

et al. 2017

Journal of Clinical Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, patients know that nurses sometimes doubt that their pain is truly severe, and patients said it hurt their feelings when they were not taken seriously (Van Dijk et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postoperative pain: knowledge and beliefs of patients and nurses

Dijk

PhD

Alblas

et al. 2017

Journal of Clinical Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pain assessment is a complex communication process between the patient and health professional with diverse interpersonal and intrapersonal dimensions interacting and affecting each other [13, 41]. In this way a balanced decision on pain treatment can be described as the result of a social transaction between the patient and the health professional [13, 42].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving beyond pain scores: Multidimensional pain assessment is essential for adequate pain management after surgery

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundClinical experience teaches us that patients are willing to accept postoperative pain, despite high pain intensity scores. Nevertheless, relationships between pain scores and other methods of pain assessment, e.g. acceptability of pain or its interference with physical functioning, are not fully established. Our aims were to examine these relationships.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on patients who underwent major surgery between January 2008 and August 2013. Using logistic regression, we quantified the relationships between movement-evoked pain scores on the numerical rating scale (NRS-MEP) and three dichotomous dependent variables: patient’s opinion on acceptability of pain (PO: acceptable or unacceptable pain); nurses’ observation of patient’s performance of necessary activities to expedite recovery (NO: good or bad performance); a compound measure judging the presence of the clinically desirable situation of acceptable pain associated with good patients’ performance (PONO: present or not). Using Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis, NRS cut-off points were determined such that they best discriminate between patients having one versus the other outcome for PO, NO and PONO.Results15,394 assessments were obtained in 9,082 patients in the first three postoperative days. Nine percent of the patients had unacceptable pain while having an NRS-MEP of 0–4. An estimated 47% (95%CI = 45%-49%) of patients with an NRS-MEP of 7 described their pain as acceptable on day one. Moreover, 33% (31%-35%) performed all required physical activities, and 22% (21%-24%) combined acceptable pain with appropriate movement. NRS cut-off points for PO, NO and PONO were five, four and four, respectively, but had insufficient discriminatory power.ConclusionsOur results suggest pain management should be guided by the many dimensions of the patient’s pain experience, not solely by NRS cut-off points. Future research should evaluate the impact of such multidimensional pain assessment on patients’ functional outcome.

show abstract

“…A systematic pain assessment can be integrated into the daily routine of nurses. Frequent assessment of pain has been found to be useful information that helps healthcare providers in making appropriate decisions on managing pain [6]. 5.…”

Section: Implications and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Varieties of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to enhance optimal pain relief are available; however, patients' responses are individualized [6]. Pain medication is still the current gold standard treatment for acute postoperative pain relief [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%