Premium
Considerations for Complementary and Alternative Interventions for Pain
Author(s) -
Schulenburg Julia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/j.aorn.2015.01.013
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , affect (linguistics) , openness to experience , alternative medicine , pain management , medicine , medline , physical therapy , psychology , nursing , social psychology , communication , pathology , political science , law
Nurses play an important role in pain management. When considering strategies for effective pain management, nurses must consider and be able to provide information about complementary and alternative therapies. Awareness of alternative interventions for pain extends across herbal therapies, energy medicine, and mind‐body exercises. Treatment regimens that integrate conventional therapies with alternative therapies based on the medical systems of non‐Western cultures may affect outcomes positively through medical interactions. Nurses should question patients and families about complementary health practices to determine whether they may affect postsurgical recovery and also to determine the level of openness to alternative practices that have evidence of success or equivalency in managing pain.