Acute pain: its physiology and the pharmacology of analgesia

Although viewed as a common occurrence, post-operative pain continues to generate episodes of poor care. It has been suggested that more than 50% of patients have pain for most of the 72 hours after surgery. Within pain management, the importance of psychological and social influences are widely accepted, but it is important to have an understanding of the physiology of pain. Yet historically nurses have often been seen to have had a poor understanding of opioids, leading to inadequate administration of these drugs. Few would argue against the suggestion that recent advances in pain management have improved patient care, but nurses need to be fully aware of the basic foundations of the physiology of pain and pain management if patient care in this area is to continue to improve.