Literature Review

In actuality, the problem of the pain management is one of the primary concerns in the contemporary nursing because the modern medicine and pharmaceutical industry can offer patients a variety of remedies which can help to ease the pain of patients. On the other hand, health care professionals, including nurses should be aware of possible effects of using different pain management tools in order to prevent their negative impact on the health of patients. In such a way, the effective pain management implies the use of modern technologies, techniques, and remedies along with the in-depth knowledge of pain management which nurses should be able to apply in the health care environment. At the same time, nurses as well as other health care professionals need to have a profound knowledge concerning pain management and they should work constantly to improve their skills and abilities and expand their professional knowledge in this regard. In such a context, the analysis of existing researches and recent studies can be very helpful in terms of the development of effective pain management strategies in nursing.
First of all, it is possible to dwell upon the study of D’Ortona, M.J. (2005). “Psychological Approaches to Pain Management: a Practitioner’s Handbook.” Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. 19(1), p. 93-101. In actuality, the author aims at the exploration of effective methods of pain management and approaches to pain management in the contemporary health care setting. The author explores traditional approaches to pain management and new ones with the help of which nurses can help patients and fulfill their functions properly. At the same time, the author points out that the pain management should involve not only the use of medication but also psychological assistance to patients. In this regard, the role of nurses is particularly significant because they spend more time with patients than physicians and their interpersonal relationships with patients can help the latter to cope with pain at the psychological level since patients have to feel comfortable to cope with pain successfully.
Another research was conducted by Groen, K.M. (2007). “Pain Assessment and Management in End of Life Care: a Survey of Assessment and Treatment Practices of Hospice Music Therapy and Nursing Professionals.” Journal of Music Therapy. 44(2), p. 90-98. This research was quite different from the previous one although it had the similar goal, namely the researcher attempted to find out effective approaches to pain management. However, unlike many other researchers, K.M. Groen focused on the use of alternative methods of pain management, such as music therapy. As the matter of fact, the music therapy is a relatively new approach to pain management. The author points out that this method of pain management has proved to be quite effective. At the same time, it is worth mentioning the fact that Groen focused on the research of hospice patients and the study did not involve other subjects but hospice patients. Nevertheless, the revelation of the positive impact of music therapy on pain management is very important and needs further studies.
Furthermore, the problem of the effective pain management was studied by A. Oliver. One of the recent studies is the study of A. Olivier (2008) “The Problem of Defining Pain.” Philosophy Today. 52(1), p. 3-7. This study aims at the definition of the concept of pain. At first glance, the definition of the concept of pain is quite a routine issue but the study conducted by A. Olivier has revealed the fact that the definition of pain is not as simple as it may seem to be. The researcher explores different approaches to the concept of pain and its interpretations. In this regard, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the definition of pain is crucial for the pain management because it is impossible to manage pain effectively, if nurses fail to understand what pain actually is and what kind of pain can exist. In fact, the definition of pain is a sort of diagnosis nurses have to conduct before starting pain management.
One more article dedicated to the problem of pain management is the study Robertson, L.A. (2009) “Counseling Clients with Chronic Pain: A Religiously Oriented Cognitive Behavior Framework.” Journal of Counseling and Development. 87(3), p. 373-377. The author aims at the revelation of effective psychological approaches to pain management. The researcher focuses on patients with chronic pain and attempts to find out effective methods of pain management. To cope with pain, the author suggests to refer to the experience of religion for, in the past, religion was a powerful tool which helped people to cope with their health problems through the effective psychological assistance to patients above all. The author reveals the fact that religious patients can cope with pain more effectively than atheists due to their faith which help them to ease the psychological tension and cope with their pain. IN fact, religions patients use their faith as a tool which help them to cope with pain. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that this approach to pain management is grounded on the psychological assistance to patients but nurses can use this experience in their practice because the attention to patients and psychological assistance, including elements used in religious practices, can help them to provide patients with effective pain management strategies.
At the same time, Robertson raises an important problem of the chronic pain, which affects the life of many patients suffering from chronic diseases. This theme is developed further in the research of Siciliano, P. (2006) “Chronic Pain in Cognitively Impaired Elderly: Challenges in Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment.” Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table. In fact, this research focuses on the study of specificities of pain management in the elderly population. To put it more precisely, the researcher focuses her attention on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of pain in the elderly population. P. Siciliano points out that the elderly population has special needs and this group of patients is different from others because elderly people do not always have a possibility to describe their health problems accurately. Their psychology is different from the psychology of young adults and middle age patients, whereas their physiological state is in a poor condition. As a result, health care professionals may have problems with the assessment and diagnosing of pain in elderly patients. In this regard, nurses are in a particularly difficult position because they need to respond adequately and, if possible, immediately on any deterioration in the health of elderly patients, especially if they suffer from pain. In addition, pain is a sign of negative changes in the health of patients and in the elderly population such changes are particularly unpredictable and pain can appear unexpectedly and health problems it accompanies may be unexpected too. Hence, nurses can use this article to get detailed information on specificities of assessment, diagnosing and treatment of the elderly population in terms of pain management. Remarkably, the author stresses peculiarities of pain management of patients with chronic pain that implies that they may have pain that could be predicted beforehand if nurses have extensive professional knowledge, skills and abilities.
Furthermore, another study is the study conducted by Steefel-Fisher, T. (2009) “Task-oriented Pain Management: a Patient’s Perspective.” Creative Nursing. 15(3), p. 145-151. The study aims at finding practical methods of pain management that do not involve medication. The researcher reveals the fact that task-oriented pain management can be very effective because it helps nurses to distract patients from their pain and their health problems. In such a way, the psychological tension decreases, patients feel more comfortable and, to a certain extent, they just forget their pain. In actuality, this method is quite noteworthy and the researcher stresses benefits of the task-oriented pain management. On the other hand, this method alone cannot always help patients to cope with their pain. Instead, the medication, as a back-up pain management treatment, can be helpful.
Finally, one more research is the study conducted by Zettle, R.D. et al. (2005) “Differential Strategies in Coping with Pain as a Function of Level of Experiential Avoidance.” The Psychological Record. 55(4), p. 511-517. The study aims at the analysis of different strategies of pain management. In fact, the study is an extensive research of the problem of pain management and different methods of coping with pain. The researchers attempt to define the effectiveness of different strategies and grade them respectively to their effectiveness. The study involves different approaches to pain management. In this respect, it is worth mentioning the fact that the researchers insist that the effective pain management is possible on the condition of the combination of psychological and physiological treatment, including medication.
Thus, in conclusion, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that modern studies dedicated to the problem of pain management reveal a number of noteworthy facts that can help nurses in their regular job. In this regard, it is particularly important to develop professional knowledge, skills and abilities of nurses and help them to implement both physiological and psychological methods of pain management.

 
References:
D’Ortona, M.J. (2005). “Psychological Approaches to Pain Management: a Practitioner’s Handbook.” Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy. 19(1), p. 93-101.
Groen, K.M. (2007). “Pain Assessment and Management in End of Life Care: a Survey of Assessment and Treatment Practices of Hospice Music Therapy and Nursing Professionals.” Journal of Music Therapy. 44(2), p. 90-98.
Olivier, A. (2008). “The Problem of Defining Pain.” Philosophy Today. 52(1), p. 3-7.
Robertson, L.A. (2009). “Counseling Clients with Chronic Pain: A Religiously Oriented Cognitive Behavior Framework.” Journal of Counseling and Development. 87(3), p. 373-377.
Siciliano, P. (2006). “Chronic Pain in Cognitively Impaired Elderly: Challenges in Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment.” Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table.
Steefel-Fisher, T. (2009). “Task-oriented Pain Management: a Patient’s Perspective.” Creative Nursing. 15(3), p. 145-151.
Zettle, R.D. et al. (2005). “Differential Strategies in Coping with Pain as a Function of Level of Experiential Avoidance.” The Psychological Record. 55(4), p. 511-517.