PMID: 20648198Jul 22, 2010Paper

Pain assessment: subjectivity, objectivity, and the use of neurotechnology

Pain Physician
James GiordanoMark V Boswell

Abstract

The pain clinician is confronted with the formidable task of objectifying the subjective phenomenon of pain so as to determine the right treatments for both the pain syndrome and the patient in whom the pathology is expressed. However, the experience of pain - and its expression - remains enigmatic. Can currently available evaluative tools, questionnaires, and scales actually provide adequately objective information about the experiential dimensions of pain? Can, or will, current and future iterations of biotechnology - whether used singularly or in combination (with other technologies as well as observational-behavioral methods) - afford objective validation of pain? And what of the clinical, ethical, legal and social issues that arise in and from the use - and potential misuse - of these approaches? Subsequent trajectories of clinical care depend upon the findings gained through the use of these techniques and their inappropriate employment - or misinterpretation of the results they provide - can lead to misdiagnoses and incorrect treatment. This essay is the first of a two-part series that explicates how the intellectual tasks of knowing about pain and the assessment of its experience and expression in the pain patient are c...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Bioinformatics in Biomedicine

Bioinformatics in biomedicine incorporates computer science, biology, chemistry, medicine, mathematics and statistics. Discover the latest research on bioinformatics in biomedicine here.

Related Papers

Journal of Pediatric Health Care : Official Publication of National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates & Practitioners
Katherine Finn DavisGary L Montgomery
South African Medical Journal = Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif Vir Geneeskunde
G G Járos, D A Boonzaier
Nephrology Nursing Journal : Journal of the American Nephrology Nurses' Association
Mirkka RantanenHelena Leino-Kilpi
Journal of Nursing Staff Development : JNSD
R M Jazwiec
© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved