Assessment and management of patient pain across practice settings have received the increased attention of providers, patients, families, and regulatory agencies. Scientific advances in pain mechanisms, multidimensional pain assessment methods, and analgesic pharmacology have aided in the improvement of pain management practices. However, providing adequate pain control to critical care patients offers unique challenges to both practitioners and researchers.

Puntillo focused on assessing and treating procedural pain, tracing discoveries about pain in critically ill patients, and providing recommendations for improving the comfort of these patients.

A behavioral pain scale has been developed and validated as a method of scoring pain in critically ill sedated patients. The scale has a scoring range of 1 to 12 and three categories: facial expression, movements of upper limbs, and compliance with ventilator.

Presented were the significance and severity of pain to the patient undergoing common procedures, including endotracheal suctioning and chest tube removal, as...

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