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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

pain management, open heart surgery, postoperative patients, pain

College

Nursing

Abstract

It is estimated that less than 50% of postoperative patients experience adequate pain management (Cater et al., 1999). Pain management is an important topic of study because patients tend to get well faster with the absence of pain. Pain is more than a physical discomfort or a physiological nuisance, as it affects a person in every aspect of his or her life. The mind-body connection theory explained by health psychologist Chino reasonably states that any disruption of the mental state of a patient influences him or her physically, and vice versa. Chino further explains that when patients are distressed by pain, their nervous systems produce stress hormones that cause muscle contraction and subsequent stress on the skeleton. This leads to more pain and decreased blood flow. Biochemically, unrelenting pain can deplete neurotransmitters, and the patient may experience subsequent depression and insomnia due to this imbalance (Whitley, 2000). Jairath and Kowal (1999) note that inadequate short-term pain management correlates with delayed wound healing, longer hospital stays, and long-term pain syndromes.

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