Introduction
Pain is not always curable but effects the life of millions of people. This essay examines the Essence of Care 2010: Benchmarks for the Prevention and Management of Pain (DH, 2010). Particularly reflecting on a practical working knowledge of its implementation and its relevance to nursing practice. It is part of the wider ranging Essence of Care policy, that includes all the latest benchmarks developed since it was first launched in 2001.
It was produced specifically to improve localized quality in the delivery of healthcare. The document was chosen because I have a particular interest in palliative care and those suffering from chronic pain. Pain effects the quality of life effecting large numbers of the population, especially those near the end of life.
This essay will look at defining what social policy is and give a brief overview of the selected policy. Examining the need for the policy, statistical evidence supporting this. Then the pressure groups lobbying and who may have been influential in policy development.
The goals and objectives set out in the policy and subsequently analysing one aspect of the policy in particular are included. How patient care and nurses delivery of said care is improved by this policy.
Practically considering the difficulties involved in implementing the policy in nursing practice. Along with methods of delivery and evaluation.
Body
So what is social policy? David Gill is often regarded as one of the most authoritive authors on the subject (1973 cited by Lavalette and Pratt 1997). For Gill it was “the analysis of access to life-enhancing and life-sustaining resources” In his book 'Social Policy' (Titmuss, 1974) Timuss suggested that 'policy' is action-orientated and proble...
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Titmuss, R. (1974) Social Policy. London: Unwin Hymen publishers.
Toofany, S. (2005) Nurses and health policy. Nursing Management :(12)3 :pp. 26-30
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Motov, M. M., Khan, A. N. (2009). Problems and barriers of pain management in the emergency
...r investigation and then devise a plan for best possible action recognizing the rights of the patient and its benefits followed by the application of the chosen intervention with positive outcome in mind (Wells, 2007). Delivery of excellent and quality of care at constant level (NMC, 2008) must be marked in any responsibilities and duties of the care provider to promote exceptional nursing practice
From Child Benefit to GCSEs, GP services to the care of elderly relatives, social policy impacts on our security, development and happiness. However, social policy also touches our lives in more unexpected ways…discipline within families and global economic competitiveness are all matters of social policy.
It is difficult for a medical professional to physically see a patient 's pain unless the source is on the exterior of their bodies. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, “Some health personnel mistakenly believe that appearance, vital signs, and the ability to sleep correlate with the presence or absence of pain. Appearance, nonetheless, is a poor predictor of pain intensity, particularly in those with chronic pain.” Doctor’s and nurses alike must put aside their bias’, predisposed beliefs, along with judgements to treat a patient experiencing pain fairly. It is a medical professional 's duty to assess and treat each patient to their fullest ability in addition to prescribing the correct medication free from bias and stereotypes. If Medical professionals have difficulty in assessing pain along with fairly prescribing medication on a case-by-case basis, then there needs to be a movement in the medical world for better teaching on this
Working Party of the Commission on the Surgical Services. (1990). Pain after Surgery. London: Royal College of Surgeons of England and College of Anaesthetists.
Pain, which is defined in its widest sense as an emotion which is the opposite of pleasure (White, 2004, p.455), is one of the major symptoms of cancer, affecting a majority of sufferers at some point during their condition (De Conno & Caraceni, 1996, p.8). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2009, online) suggests that relief from pain may be achieved in more than 90 percent of patients; however, Fitzgibbon and Loeser (2010, p.190) stress that pain may often be undertreated, even in the UK. Foley and Abernathy (2008, p.2759) identify numerous barriers to effective pain management, among which are professional barriers such as inadequate knowledge of pain mechanisms, assessment and management strategies.
The lives of all individuals are impacted by social policies that have been created and written in the past and this impact will continue as historical social policies are updated and with each future social policies that is created and written. The impact of social policy is significant because, “Although social policy may address individual needs, it also typically benefits the host society” (Chapin, 2014, p.2). In other words, each social policy does not directly impact each individual in society, but overall social policies impact the entire society in some form or another. “Social policies are the rules, laws, and regulations that govern the benefits and services provided by the government and private organizations to assist people in
...amount of pain) is a great teaching tool for the patient who is able to self-report (Nevius & D’Arcy, 2008). This will put the patient and nurse on the same level of understanding regarding the patient’s pain. The patient should also be aware of the added information included with the pain scale: quality, duration, and location of the pain. During patient teaching, it should be noted that obtaining a zero out of ten on the pain scale is not always attainable after a painful procedure. A realistic pain management goal can be set by the patient for his pain level each day.
Social Policy is an analysis of the social services and the welfare state. The welfare state is what gives individuals the chance to bounce back after adversity that may happen in their lives. Social policy is used to develop and deliver services to society to meet the welfare and wellbeing needs of those who may need it (Alcock, 2008, p.2). Social policy focuses on unemployment, people with disabilities, elderly, vulnerable and less-able people, single parent families and how help and support to them can be delivered in the best way possible. Social policy notifies the way in which health services, legislations and policies are conveyed. Over time, governments have either changed or built on existing legislations and policies in response to
A well-structured health policy is on that has the power to instantly be effective and appeals to people all from different backgrounds. Research is carried out a lot by different organisation and certain procedures need to be put in place to make the research valid and able to use in the policy statements. After this all the information for policies has to be analysed and judge on by different authorities and approaches.
The idea of palliative care is to relieve pain, so one might be led to believe that there are only positive aspects of it, but what happens when a patient does not get the proper pain management? How does this affect the patient and the patient’s family? Additionally, pain management during palliative care can impact the role of the nurse in ways such as providing proper assessments and healthcare. Of course there are beneficial outcomes to pain management during palliative care, but there are negative aspects and questions that must be answered as well. The following will discuss in totality how pain management during palliative care can impact the patient, the patient’s family, and healthcare professionals such as the
Berman et al. (2010, p.183) describe the nursing process as a ‘systematic, rational method of planning and providing nursing care’. The purpose of the process is to identify a patient’s health care status, and actual or potential health problems, to make plans to meet the identified needs, and to deliver specific nursing interventions to address those needs (Berman et al. 2010). The steps followed through the nursing process are assessing the patient to establish a database consisting of information about their health, diagnosing the patient according to the nurses’ assessment, planning an individual care plan specific to the patient’s goals and desired outcomes, implementing the goals assisting the patient, promoting health and preventing illness and evaluating the outcome ...
The researchers looked at the issue of postoperative pain assessment and management. With gathered information they have observed that more and more patients are leaving health facilities without their pain needs being met and has now become a common occurrence. They analyzed the barriers affecting healthcare professionals and how these barriers could lead to errors thus causing patients to experience postoperative pain.
The core skill that was involved in the last clinical placement was regarding pain assessment and management. Pain was defined as an unpleasant experience from the sensory and emotional aspects that usually involved the tissue damage in the body (Fields, 2007). Pain was classified into acute or chronic. Acute pain was a direct biological response to inflammation, tissue damage, or disease. Acute pain usually lasted less than one month. Acute pain was usually accompanied by anxiety and emotional distress. Chronic pain comprised of pain that lasted longer than a month following the healing of a tissue injury. Chronic pain persisted or recurred for three months or longer. Chronic pain was either continuous or intermittent (Frey, 2005). Pain caused by tissue damage, was called as nociceptive pain, and pain caused by nerve damage, that was named as neuropathic pain. Pain that was affected by psychological factors was known as psychogenic pain. The origin of psychogenic pain was either in tissue damage or nerve damage, relevant to the factors as fear, depression, stress, or anxiety. Pain assessment was essential to be carried out as the basis to frame out pain management interventions. The main focus of pain assessment was to express pain in terms of intensity, nature, location, duration and aggravating or easing factors. These lead to an exact template to carry out pain assessment in patients with acute and chronic pain (Fink, 2000, p.236). Pain management was an interdisciplinary approach, comprised of all interventions that were applicable to ease pain and also to alleviate the cause of the pain (Schonbeck and Uretsky, 2013). The rationale in selecting the core skill , which was pain assessment and management, was due to the impor...
Throughout this essay the topics outlined are as follows .A brief definition of social policy. How social policy relates to social care on an academic subject level and finally the relevance of social policy in relation to social care work.