Pain may be inevitable; inadequate management is not
-
Correspondence: Yoanna Skrobik skrobik@sympatico.ca
Hôpital Maisonneuve Rosemont, 5415 boulevard de l'Assomption, Montreal, Québec, Canada H1T 2M4
Critical Care 2008, 12:142 doi:10.1186/cc6865
Published: 29 April 2008Abstract
Assessing and managing pain in the critically ill patient is challenging. Reproducible and clinically applicable pain measurement scales have yet to be validated and ubiquitously applied in the intensive care unit setting. Critical care clinicians, both physicians and nurses, should thoughtfully monitor their patient's pain level, periodically reassess their practice and critically evaluate the efficacy of pharmacological and nonpharmacological analgesic interventions.