Pain-Control Methods Need Shot in the Arm

Despite recent advances in the field of pain management, many Americans continue to suffer pain unnecessarily, the National Institutes of Health reports.

The NIH attributed the “continuing deficiencies in the clinical management of pain” to the undermedication of patients out of fear of drug addiction and lack of communication of pain-management techniques among health-care professionals.

One recent safe and effective innovation is the development of “patient-controlled analgesia (PCA),” which allows patients to administer their own narcotics with a “pain pump” connected intravenously, according to the NIH.

The system allows people to take less medication and stay more alert than those using traditional dosing techniques. In addition, safety mechanisms built into the pump allow physicians to control the dosage and time intervals in which narcotics can be administered so that patients cannot overdose.