Assessing patients' pain: identifying reasons for error.
Accurate pain assessment is vital for good medical care, and yet the literature indicates that nurses often provide inaccurate and biased estimates of their patients' pain. The following paper reviews the methods used to assess nurses' accuracy, and reasons offered for the errors observed. Practical options for improving pain assessment and pain management are discussed.
Harrison
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Department of Community Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*