Annotated Bibliography for Articles Concerning Ethical Issue of Nursing and Pain Management
Statement of Scope
In the field of nursing, one ethical dilemma with an abundance of attention is pain management. Throughout their careers, nurses may face many hard decisions in order to control the pain of their patients. Some of these might be when to believe the patient, when to give medication, and what medication to give and how much. The assignment is to compile sources related to this ethical issue and create an annotated bibliography that includes a response to the controversy. The sources gathered for this project are two informational and four opinion pieces all related to the ethical dilemma of pain management. They have been collected to …show more content…
In this piece, Aswegan takes the stance that physicians have the responsibility to treat, or attempt to treat, their patient’s pain in any situation. He discusses four aspects of the ethical issue including physicians’ lack of knowledge, overestimated risks of medications, reluctance to prescribe drugs based on personal judgements, and a gap in communication. Aswegan uses these topics and a hypothetical story of a patient deemed a “frequent flyer” to support his claim that physicians have a duty to provide for their patients, and can reap many benefits by doing so.
Behrens, E. (1996). An Ethical Approach to Pain Management. MedSurg Nursing, 5(6), 457-458. “An Ethical Approach to Pain Management” by Elizabeth Behrens is an informational trade journal article published in the MedSurg Nursing journal. In this article, Behrens proposes four points that may cause pain management issues for nurses. These include a lack of communication between the nurse and patient, poor judgement of facial expressions and documentation of pain assessments, placing blame on the patient, and inadequate patient education of their rights to autonomy. In each section, Behrens explains why each topic may impose on the control of a patient’s pain. She never offers her opinion on how a nurse should conduct themselves when faced with one of …show more content…
I hate seeing anyone down or upset and have great empathy for anyone hurting. So when faced with a patient who is in pain, I believe that I will choose to suppress that pain in any way that I can. Whether it be by giving medication or offering to hold a hand, I want to be on the patient’s side. Pain is described as, “whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does” (as cited in Bernhofer, 2011). Because pain is one sided, there will be times when the decision regarding pain management will be difficult. I will have to use my own judgements to determine when and how much medication to give. In some situations, I may have to respond in a way that is against my own will. But, according to Aswegan, “Another benefit is that patients can often give a more accurate and detailed history when their pain is lessened. Without the negative influence of pain, patients’ capacity for making medical decisions also improves” (2007). Ultimately, when I have the opportunity to help the patient by repressing their pain, I will do so. As a nurse, I will vow to help people to the best of my ability, and denying someone this right to care would be going against everything I signed up
Statement of Scope
In the field of nursing, one ethical dilemma with an abundance of attention is pain management. Throughout their careers, nurses may face many hard decisions in order to control the pain of their patients. Some of these might be when to believe the patient, when to give medication, and what medication to give and how much. The assignment is to compile sources related to this ethical issue and create an annotated bibliography that includes a response to the controversy. The sources gathered for this project are two informational and four opinion pieces all related to the ethical dilemma of pain management. They have been collected to …show more content…
In this piece, Aswegan takes the stance that physicians have the responsibility to treat, or attempt to treat, their patient’s pain in any situation. He discusses four aspects of the ethical issue including physicians’ lack of knowledge, overestimated risks of medications, reluctance to prescribe drugs based on personal judgements, and a gap in communication. Aswegan uses these topics and a hypothetical story of a patient deemed a “frequent flyer” to support his claim that physicians have a duty to provide for their patients, and can reap many benefits by doing so.
Behrens, E. (1996). An Ethical Approach to Pain Management. MedSurg Nursing, 5(6), 457-458. “An Ethical Approach to Pain Management” by Elizabeth Behrens is an informational trade journal article published in the MedSurg Nursing journal. In this article, Behrens proposes four points that may cause pain management issues for nurses. These include a lack of communication between the nurse and patient, poor judgement of facial expressions and documentation of pain assessments, placing blame on the patient, and inadequate patient education of their rights to autonomy. In each section, Behrens explains why each topic may impose on the control of a patient’s pain. She never offers her opinion on how a nurse should conduct themselves when faced with one of …show more content…
I hate seeing anyone down or upset and have great empathy for anyone hurting. So when faced with a patient who is in pain, I believe that I will choose to suppress that pain in any way that I can. Whether it be by giving medication or offering to hold a hand, I want to be on the patient’s side. Pain is described as, “whatever the experiencing person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does” (as cited in Bernhofer, 2011). Because pain is one sided, there will be times when the decision regarding pain management will be difficult. I will have to use my own judgements to determine when and how much medication to give. In some situations, I may have to respond in a way that is against my own will. But, according to Aswegan, “Another benefit is that patients can often give a more accurate and detailed history when their pain is lessened. Without the negative influence of pain, patients’ capacity for making medical decisions also improves” (2007). Ultimately, when I have the opportunity to help the patient by repressing their pain, I will do so. As a nurse, I will vow to help people to the best of my ability, and denying someone this right to care would be going against everything I signed up