The review of acute pain describes the problem of unresolved pain and its effects on the neural, autonomic, and immune systems. Conceptualizations and mechanisms of pain are reviewed as well as theories of pain management. Descriptive studies of patient and nurse factors that inhibit effective pain management are discussed, followed by studies of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. Critical analysis reveals that most studies were atheoretical, and therefore, this proliferation of information lacked conceptual coherence and organization. Furthermore, the nature and extent of barriers to pain management were described, but few intervention studies have been devised, as yet, to modify the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of nurses and patients that are barriers to pain management. Although some of the complementary therapies have sufficient research support to be used in clinical pain management, the physiological mechanisms and outcomes need to be studied. It is critical at this time to design studies of interventions to improve assessment, decision making, attentive care, and patient teaching.
对急性疼痛的综述描述了未解决的疼痛问题及其对神经、自主神经和免疫系统的影响。文中回顾了疼痛的概念和机制以及疼痛管理理论。讨论了抑制有效疼痛管理的患者和护士因素的描述性研究，随后是药物和非药物干预措施的研究。批判性分析表明，大多数研究缺乏理论依据，因此，这些大量的信息缺乏概念上的连贯性和组织性。此外，文中描述了疼痛管理障碍的性质和程度，但目前尚未设计出多少干预性研究来改变那些成为疼痛管理障碍的护士和患者的知识、信念和态度。尽管一些补充疗法有足够的研究支持可用于临床疼痛管理，但仍需研究其生理机制和效果。目前，设计干预性研究以改善评估、决策、贴心护理和患者教育至关重要。
