Considerations on out-of-hospital pain assessment of a diverse population

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-102
Author(s):  
Guillaume Alinier ◽  
Enrico Dippenaar ◽  
Padarath Gangaram

Nearly all medical emergency calls are related to someone experiencing some form of discomfort—either due to trauma or pain. Initial pain assessment may be undertaken over the telephone by an emergency medical dispatcher, without seeing the patient; however, the next key moment in pain assessment is completed patient-side by the paramedic. This inquiry is detailed and guides the paramedic in the formation of a differential diagnosis and provision of appropriate pain management. The research team recently conducted and published a study on pain assessment which raised concerns on the subjectivity of pain scoring. The work presented was in the context of a very multicultural environment. The aim of this commentary article is to further explore this topic and encourage health professionals to reflect on this aspect of patient assessment.

2021 ◽  
pp. 205715852110134
Author(s):  
Bente Dale Malones ◽  
Sindre Sylte Kallmyr ◽  
Vera Hage ◽  
Trude Fløystad Eines

Pain assessment tools are often used by patients to report their pain and by health professionals to assess patients’ reported pain. Although valid and reliable assessment of pain is essential for high-quality clinical care, there are still many patients who experience inappropriate pain management. The aim of this scoping review is to examine an overview of how hospitalized patients evaluate and report their pain in collaboration with nurses. Systematic searches were conducted, and ten research articles were included using the PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews. Content analysis revealed four main themes: 1) the relationship between the patient and nurse is an important factor of how hospitalized patients evaluate and report their post-surgery pain, 2) the patient’s feelings of inconsistency in how pain assessments are administered by nurses, 3) the challenge of hospitalized patients reporting post-surgery pain numerically, and 4) previous experiences and attitudes affect how hospitalized patients report their pain. Pain assessment tools are suitable for nurses to observe and assess pain in patients. Nevertheless, just using pain assessment tools is not sufficient for nurses to obtain a comprehensive clinical picture of each individual patient with pain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-242
Author(s):  
Chris McDaniel ◽  
Meleah Puckett ◽  
Allison Caspersen ◽  
Brittany Hall

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Joana Hankollari ◽  
Marsida Duli ◽  
Qamil Dika ◽  
Xhenila Duli ◽  
Indrit Bimi ◽  
...  

Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels. It can affect any blood vessel in the body by manifesting a variety of systemic, non-specific symptoms that make difficult the diagnosis of this pathology and especially its specific form. In front of any patient suspected of being affected by vasculitis, some questions are asked: Is the vasculitis or other pathology that camouflages, whether it is primary or secondary vasculitis, in which vessels this pathology extends, how can the diagnosis be confirmed and how can it be determined the type of vasculitis?The purpose of this study is to inform about the protocols to be followed to perform differential diagnosis of vasculitis types.This study is a review based on the research of world studies and literature regarding the recommendations for performing differential diagnosis among the variety of vasculitis forms.Primary patient assessment involves taking the history of the medications it uses, risk factors for infectious pathology, history of cardiac valve pathologies, and autoimmune pathologies. Then laboratory and imaging studies are carried out, aiming at setting the diagnosis, determining the affected organ and the degree of disease activity. And recently we refer to algorithms to make differential diagnosis between the varieties of vasculitis forms.Despite the diagnostic difficulties of vasculitis, the variety of its forms, the separation of responsibilities among many specialities, there are protocols that need to be followed rigorously to arrive at a safe diagnosis as well as auxiliary algorithms to distinguish the type of vasculitis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. S18-S26
Author(s):  
Rhian Noble-Jones ◽  
Melanie J Thomas ◽  
Marie Gabe-Walters

Background: Adults and children report genital oedema but prevalence is unknown. Pre-registration nurse training rarely includes genital oedema and postgraduate training opportunities are rare. Aim: To identify the education needs of health professionals regarding management of genital oedema. Method: An electronic survey was cascaded to health professionals through relevant professional groups and social media. Findings: Of 149 UK respondents, most manage patients with genital oedema but only 2% felt current training was sufficient. Of 138 responding regarding supplemental training, only a half had completed genital oedema specific education, usually of 1–4 hours' duration. Confidence in knowledge was up to 22.5% higher in those with genital oedema education, even accounting for years of experience. The most common top three individual needs were compression, contemporary surgical and medical management and patient assessment. Educational resources are needed and both offline and online formats were suggested; collaborative events with urology/pelvic health are essential. Conclusion: Health professionals working in lymphoedema care have (unmet) specific education needs regarding genital oedema management. The desire for both offline and online resources reflects the necessity of accessing learning at a distance and on an ‘as needed’ basis.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Rundblad

The role of passive voice as a device used in medical and scientific discourse to mystify the author is clearly articulated and well-known. Through analysis of the Methods section of nine medical research articles, this paper shows that metonymy is another frequently used impersonalisation strategy in medical discourse. Furthermore, this paper argues that impersonalisation is not restricted to the authors and that two types of impersonalisation need be distinguished: generalisation and socialisation. Discourse agents were categorised into the ‘present authors’ versus ‘other researchers and health professionals not part of the research team’. Agents were investigated in relation to impersonalisation and social identity. Results show that possessive/causative metonyms are used to produce genderless, generic ‘present authors’ as well as ‘other researchers’. In contrast, more significant ‘health professionals’ are often referred to in terms of representational/locative metonyms highlighting their authoritative social identity. The study also shows that for these non–authorial professionals co-occurrence of metonymy and passive voice is generally avoided. Although ‘present authors’ are mainly absent, this analysis reveals a higher than expected author presence resulting in a significantly higher degree of impersonalisation for non-authorial agents.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan C. Dombrowski ◽  
Karen L. Gischlar ◽  
Amanda Clinton

The abuse and neglect of children has been linked to their cognitive, academic, psychological, and behavioral demise. As a result of the deleterious effects that abuse can have on children’s development and well-being, all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, have enacted child abuse reporting laws for mental health professionals. These laws typically require a mandated child abuse report when child maltreatment has been reasonably suspected. Although mandated child abuse reporting laws appear straight-forward, mandated reporting often entails complex and nuanced decision-making, particularly when a child is from a diverse cultural background. Thus, this article offers a discussion for mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, social workers) regarding mandated child abuse reporting within a multicultural environment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (Sup10) ◽  
pp. S19-S22
Author(s):  
Rhian Noble-Jones ◽  
Melanie J. Thomas ◽  
Lara Davies ◽  
Karen Morgan

Men, women or children can suffer from oedema (swelling) of the genitalia. When differential diagnosis has excluded acute trauma or pathology and swelling remains, the condition may be diagnosed as genital lymphoedema, a chronic condition that increases the relative risk of cellulitis. Diagnosis of genital oedema is often delayed due to problems with patient and health professional behaviour, in terms of embarrassment, lack of confidence or lack of knowledge. Awareness of this condition and knowledge on how to manage it will go a long way in helping both patients and clinicians overcome the challenges of addressing genital oedema. This article describes the authors' experiences in managing genital oedema. It also briefly discusses a new international project that seeks to identify the knowledge and training that health professionals need to manage this condition more confidently.


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