Characterization of pain in hospitalized patients: narrative review

• Autor(a) principal: Lobo,Bárbara Bernardes
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Alcântara,Erikson Custódio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: BrJP (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2595-31922022000300258
• topic: Inpatients; Hospitalization; Pain; Review

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pain can be influenced by the period of hospital stay, causing different losses to the patient. Professionals must properly collect and record this data to treat pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the different characteristics of pain in hospitalized patients. METHODS: A systematic review was carried out in the Medline, LILACS and Pubmed databases, based on the descriptors “pain” AND “patients” AND “hospitalized” with their respective terms in Portuguese until October 2020. A total of 2,085 articles were found, of which 2,064 underwent careful evaluation and 20 were selected to compose this review based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria outlined. RESULTS: Pain is more common and more severe in postoperative (90.8%) and palliative care wards, above all, it is frequently reported by young women. It lasts for more than three months in many patients and interferes with activities of daily living. Adequate analgesia is of great importance in this scenario. One-dimensional instruments are most commonly used to assess pain in hospitals. Attention is drawn to the absence or omission of non-pharmacological therapies for pain management, which can be considered a safe alternative without increasing the use of drugs. CONCLUSION: Pain is very present and severe in hospitalized patients, demonstrating a failure in hospital analgesia protocols worldwide. Due to the work overload of professionals, pain is still under-evaluated. HIGHLIGHTS Pain still does not receive the proper attention in the hospital environment. There are failures in the requisites of systematized, appropriate assessment and the professionals’ trust in the patients’ reports, especially the record in medical charts and adequate analgesic treatment. Pain is very present in hospitalized patients, regardless of the cause for hospitalization and, as a result, it limits the quality of life and daily activities, besides resulting in biopsychosocial changes. Training for interprofessional hospital staf is strongly recommended to improve pain management in this scenario.