2- Pain assessment Flashcards
define pain
An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage
Define noxious stimulus
A stimulus that is damaging or threatens damage to normal tissues.
Define nociception
The neural process of encoding noxious stimuli
Define central sensitization
Increased responsiveness of nociceptive neurons in the central nervous system to their normal or subthreshold afferent input.
Define Somatic Pain
Pain experienced from skin, muscle, bone damage/disease
Define visceral pain
Pain experienced because of organ pain (abdominal or thoracic)
define neuropathic pain
Pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system (in contrast to nociceptive pain)
define wind up
Wind-up is a frequency-dependent increase in the excitability of spinal cord neurones, evoked by electrical stimulation of afferent C-fibres
List 3 adverse effects of unrelieved pain
Weight loss, poor wound healing, impaired immune system, Fatigue, Weakness, Hypoxemic, Anorexia, Ileus, Fearful, anxious, Poor sleep
Clinical signs of pain
Tachycardia, Tachypnoea, Hyper/hypotension, pale mm, sweating
What are the 3 basic pain scales?
Simple descriptive
Numerical rating
Visual analogue
Only considers intensity of pain
What Is the commonly used pain scale in the UK
Glasgow composite pain scale
Assesses different domains
Total score of 24
On the Glasgow composite pain scale a score of what means analgesia intervention?
6/24
Pain signs in horses
ears held stiffly backwards
withdrawn and tense stare
Nostrils- square-like/ strained
Tension of the muzzle
What do you need to consider when assessing pain
no ‘Gold standard’ pain scale
make sure animals are frequently checked and reassessed
individual variation
if in doubt give a dose of analgesic and then reassess
