Masters Degrees (Anaesthesiology and Critical Care)

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Anaesthesiology and Critical Care) by Author "Dippenaar, Petrus Johannes"

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    Postoperative pain assessment : a review of nursing practices at Tygerberg Academic Hospital
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018) Dippenaar, Petrus Johannes; Naidoo, R.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pain is a complex, subjective, physical and emotional experience with large individual variation. Murray et al has estimated a prevalence of 62% of severe postoperative pain in Tygerberg Academic Hospital Surgical Wards (TAHSW). Efficient pain management stems from accurate pain assessment. Cultural influences and level of education determines patients’ willingness and ability to disclose the pain experience, as well as the health care provider’s ability to accurately assess it. Nurses with a greater level of training and experience tend to acknowledge self-report of pain to establish the existence of pain, but use objective parameters to determine intensity. Pain rating scales should be used to grade intensity of pain, as this is the easiest dimension to delineate. Acute pain has recently been regarded as the “fifth vital sign”, and routine assessment has created greater awareness of pain. Unfortunately, the lack of proper management protocols, has resulted in an increase in the inappropriate administration of opioid analgesics with an increased incidence of postoperative respiratory depression. Level of sedation secondary to opioid administration correlates with the risk of apnoea. Respiratory depression mostly occurs at night during the first 24 hours, due to lack of proper monitoring. Nurses need to be trained to recognise the danger signs of opioid induced respiratory depression.