Non-pharmacological treatments for pain relief: TENS and acupuncture.

Acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) are non-pharmacological methods that have been used for millennia to relieve pain. As with all complementary treatments, efficacy evaluations face two hurdles: the non-feasibility of double-blinding and the difficulty in identifying the optimal control population or treatment. Nevertheless, recent studies of good methodological quality have demonstrated benefits in many types of pain compared to conventional treatment.

Efficacy and safety of oral ketamine for the relief of intractable chronic pain: A retrospective 5-year study of 51 patients.

Background: This work summarizes the efficiency, failures and adverse effects of oral administration of ketamine at home for intractable pain.

Methods: This 5-year retrospective study involved testing ketamine by intravenous in-hospital administration, then a conversion to an oral route, or oral treatment directly administered at home. The daily intravenous dose was increased by steps of 0.

Care-related pain in hospitalized patients: severity and patient perception of management.

Background: Hospitalized patients commonly undergo painful procedures, but little is known about care-related pain (CRP) in the overall population of inpatients. We conducted a cross-sectional 1-day survey to assess the prevalence and characteristics of CRP and its management in all units of a university hospital in Paris and determined the factors linked to severe CRP.

Methods: All patients who were able to communicate and were hospitalized for at least 24 h but not in a day-care or neonatal unit were included.

Determinants of patient satisfaction regarding pain care.

Background: The management of pain in hospitalized patients remains a major public hospital priority. It has been the object of three French national programs since 1999. The purpose of this study was to reassess pain prevalence, pain intensity and patient perception of its management ten years after the first national program and to determine the factors related to the patient satisfaction with efforts to decrease pain intensity.

Care related pain in hospitalized patients: a cross-sectional study.

Context: Care-related pain includes pain occurring during transportation, movement, diagnostic imaging, physical examination, or treatment. Its prevalence has never been assessed in a large adult inpatient population.

Objective: To identify the procedures likely to induce or increase pain in hospital patients, attempting to separate the most painful from those reported as most frequently inducing pain.