Anesthesia-Intensive Care and Pain Therapy
Anesthesia-intensive care and pain therapy are fields of medicine that aim to prevent and manage the symptoms associated with serious illness, injury, or surgery. These disorders can be challenging to treat and have a lasting impact on patients’ quality of life.
Before Surgery – Before your procedure, an anesthesiologist will speak with and examine you to ensure you are healthy and ready for the operation. They also review your medical history, medications taken, and any concerns or worries you may have.
They will administer a medication to put you to sleep and monitor your breathing and circulation during the procedure. After it’s over, you’ll be taken back to the recovery room where a doctor or nurse will stay with you to help make you comfortable during recovery.
Once awake, the anesthesiologist will monitor your progress to ensure you are recovering smoothly and without any complications. They may also give you extra doses of medication as necessary.
You will likely be given a pain pill to take daily. You will be instructed when and how much medication to take, and you are always free to discontinue use if you feel too uncomfortable.
Your anesthesiologist may use a nerve block as well to numb large areas of your body, such as from the waist down. This is commonly done during childbirth or for procedures like excision of moles, stitching up deep cuts, or setting broken bones.
These methods are not a permanent fix for pain; they simply numb the area being treated. Your Pain Management team will collaborate closely with you to identify the most suitable method of pain control after surgery and help find ways to manage it quickly and effectively.
In the intensive care unit, pain can be a source of anxiety and stress for patients. It may lead to fatigue, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance; furthermore, it may make patients less responsive to pain medications which makes them more likely to experience side effects or develop chronic pain later in life.
In the intensive care unit, pain therapy is designed to minimize discomfort and speed up recovery for patients. Studies have demonstrated that early management of pain can prevent or delay acute to chronic discomfort after surgery or illness.
In the intensive care unit, sedatives such as benzodiazepines and propofol are frequently prescribed to relieve pain. Unfortunately, many patients do not receive enough sedation to fully relieve their suffering, and some even experience adverse reactions from these drugs.
In an intensive care unit, pain management is designed to enhance patient comfort and increase survival chances by relieving pain, anxiety, and depression. To accomplish this goal, it’s important to address the underlying causes of discomfort rather than just treating its symptoms.