PAIN MANAGEMENT IN INTENSIVE CARE UNIT: A BRIEF REVIEW

Abstract

Pain is a common and major public health problem. It is an unpleasant experience for all patients especially the critical patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), where the majority of the patients are unable to report or express their pain. The adequate pain assessment and management results in a better outcome in ICU patients and if not treated properly, pain can have various acute and chronic adverse effects on the patient’s well-being including post-traumatic stress disorder. Various pain assessment tools including behavioral pain scales are used in ICU. Treatment of pain involves the role of a multidisciplinary team using various therapies to make the patient pain free and comfortable. The assessment of various factors like the conscious level of the patient, presence of mechanical ventilator and various invasive catheters, hemodynamic stability, and presence of organ dysfunction plays an important role in determining the therapeutic option to be used for the treatment of pain.