Pain & Patient Comfort
- Myths about Pain
The biggest obstacles to effective pain management are the misconceptions that surround the topic of medication, opioids, and pain relievers. Once we clear up these myths, patients will receive better care and will spend their last days as comfortably as possible. This handout helps to expose myths about pain. - Nutrition and Hydration
This handout helps to clarify why physicians sometimes withhold nutrition from those who are dying. - Pain Advocacy Community Resource Guide
The Pain Advocacy Community provides an extensive list of resources for people with pain and those who care for them. -
End-of-Life Pain
Management in Children and Adolescents
PDF
Unlike palliative care in adults, the treatment of pain and other forms of suffering associated with life-threatening disorders in children has only just begun to be explored. Authors Rebecca Selove, Dianne Cochran, and Ira Todd Cohen examine the issues that professionals face in this difficult situation in this chapter from Pain Management at the End of Life: Bridging the Gap Between Knowledge and Practice. -
The Ethical Dimensions of Pain and Suffering
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In this chapter from Pain Management at the End of Life, author Ben A. Rich, PhD considers the doctrine of double effect, and the highly charged issues of terminal sedation, total sedation, and conscious sedation. -
Fast Article Critical Summaries for Clinicians in Palliative Care
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) produces a monthly electronic publication that provides palliative care clinicians with concise summaries of important findings from more than 30 medical and scientific journals. This outstanding resource helps geriatricians, oncologists, pain specialists, and others interested in end-of-life care to stay on top of the latest research in the field, and its relevance to clinical practice. - Societal Barriers to
Pain Management
Jack D. Gordon, former Chairman and CEO of the Hospice Foundation of America, discusses some of the societal barriers to good pain management, barriers that exist within the medical profession, and some of the policy issues surrounding this complex subject.
