Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease, which affects mostly women. RA is also a chronic disease and the treatment is focused on moderating the immunological process. RA-patients experience daily pain which affect their prosperity. The aim of this literature study is to illuminate some factors that influence the well-being of patients with RA. The factors that have been studied are pain, nutrition and need of knowledge about nutrition.

ABSTRACT Introduction: One of the great difficulties that the nurse anesthetist encounter in their profession is to assess and estimate sleep depth versus signs of pain in the anesthetized patient. Based on a pre-operative appointment and the perioperative monitoring, an assessment of the patient is made. The experience that the nurse anesthetist has can make it easier to understand what subtile signs of the patient depends on. Purpose: With this in mind, the purpose of the pilot study was to try to find out if there are specific signs of pain during anesthesia and if the professional experience played a role. As a subsidiary aim the authors examined whether there were factors in the patient that the nurse anesthetist takes into account in the identification of pain during anesthesia.

In veterinary medicine, penicillin is the most used antibiotic in Sweden. Two dosage forms of penicillin are available in Sweden for use in horses, sodium benzylpenicillin (Na-pc) and procaine benzylpenicillin (proc-pc). Proc-pc is the most used dosage form and is used for intramuscular administration which allows horse owners to treat an animal at home under veterinary instruction. Na-pc is only approved for intravenous use in horses. Penicillin is normally well tolerated by horses but a serious, sometimes life-threatening, adverse reaction called penicillin shock may occur.

Background: Parents attitudes about illness and health reflects on their children. When the child has acute pain the parents often reacts with fear and confusion. The demands on the parenting role increase and therefore it´s important that the nurse show consideration for the parents experience and practise family nursing. Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate parents experiences in connection with their child´s acute pain in a caregiving situation. Method: This literature study is based on ten scientific articles.

Abstract på svenska: Bakgrund: Vid en förlossning upplever kvinnan oftast svår eller extrem smärta. På senare år har efterfrågan på alternativ till traditionella smärtlindringsmetoder ökat och akupunktur har visat sig kunna ge både smärtlindring och avslappning. Syfte: Att belysa erfarenheter och upplevelser av akupunktur vid förlossningssmärta. Metod: En litteraturstudie genomfördes genom granskning och analys av åtta vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i fyra kategorier: Erfarenheter av smärtlindring, erfarenheter av avslappning, minskat behov av traditionell smärtlindring och akupunkturens inverkan vid förlossningens samtliga skeden.

 Background: Euthanasia means help to die. Some terminally ill patients wish for euthanasia. Purpose: Illuminating terminally ill patients' desire for voluntary euthanasia. Method: A general literature study. Seven articles were reviewed and analyzed.

One of many difficult issues in veterinary medicine is the assessment of an animal's experience of pain. As a licensed veterinary nurse in Sweden you are obligated by law to work by the concept of evidence based medicine. To achieve this the author of this study sees the need for standardized methods of pain assessment. A Swedish version of Short form of the Glasgow Composite Measure Pain Scale (CMPS-SF) has recently been translated and developed. Furthermore, a psychometric validation needs to be performed to ensure its validity and reliability.

Syftet var att undersöka om kinesiotejpning kunde påverka aktivitetsförmåga och smärta hos gravida kvinnor med pelvic girdle pain. Studien var en single subjekt experimentell AB-design. Fyra kvinnor inkluderades i pilotstudien för behandling av pelvic girdle pain. Smärtan skattades och mättes med visuell analog skala. Aktivitetsförmågan mättes med Roland &  Morris disability questionnaire.Resultatet visade att gällande aktivitetsförmåga kunde det med 95 % säkerhet ses en förbättring hos tre av kvinnorna.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness training in the treatment of chronic pain, estimate the degree of mindfulness before and after intervention, and to describe the participants experience of mindfulness training. Mindfulness is defined as moment to moment, non-judgmental awareness. After the treatment of chronic pain 16 patients were offered and nine agreed to participate in mindfulness training. The intervention group took part in an 8-week group-program. The comparison group, not randomized, was 16 former patients.

Intramuscular injections to cats can generate strong reactions in some individuals while reactions of the same extent, according to the author, not always are recognized when using the subcutaneous route. The reactions are probably caused by fear, stress and/or pain. When the injection can generate pain one has to take that into account, which can be a limitation in treatment. It is well known that injections generate pain, but knowledge about the cause and processes of the injection-associated pain is limited. This is mainly due to the difficulty in finding objects to study pain on, high cost of use of laboratory animals and difficulty to obtain objective measurements. Although there is evidence that there may be a local muscle injury by intramuscular injection, it is not always that the extent of damage is related to the pain experienced. Facts about the causes of injection-associated pain have been studied in a literature review.

Aim: The aim of this study was to highlighting the experiences of individuals of non-pharmacological treatment for chronic pain.Method: The study was designed as a literature review with aim to review andcompile the articles results. This study has been based on a systematic literature search of supplementing out of an unsystematic search were 11 articles were found.Results: The participants in the studies had experienced a good effect out of non-pharmacological treatments for their pain and a improved quality of life. Based on participants´ experiences of treatment two categories occurred: body awareness and relaxation. Body awareness arose through treatments like yoga, mindfulness meditation and CBT. Relaxation occurred through treatments, like music, heat, massage and meditation.Conclusion: This study highlights how non-pharmacological treatments is experienced by individuals with chronic pain and two key areas have been identified.

Background: Chronic pain is a condition that approximately 18% of the Swedish population suffers from. This condition affects many aspects of a person´s life and causes psychological, physiological and social suffering. Multimodal treatment is considered the most effective treatment for patients with chronic pain. Patient participation and motivation are very important to treatment. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore patients´ experience of a multimodal chronic pain treatment program regarding their experience of patient participation and interaction with the rehabilitation team.

Bakgrund: Smärta är ett flerdimensionellt fenomen och ett vanligt problem inom äldrevården. Smärtbehandling finns att tillgå, trots detta är smärta underbehandlat hos äldre patienter.Syftet: Syftet med studien är att belysa hur sjuksköterskor bedömer fysisk smärta i omvårdnad av äldre patienter.Metod: Litteraturöversikt med kvalitativ ansats har använts. Datamaterialet bestod av fem kvantitativa och fyra kvalitativa vetenskapliga artiklar.Resultat: Det framkom tre huvudkategorier: smärtbedömningsprocesser, smärtbedömningsmetoder och smärtbedömningsredskap. Ur huvudkategorierna urskildes sex underkategorier: smärtidentifiering, smärtbedömningssvårigheter, kommunikation med patienterna för att bedöma smärta, smärtobservation, smärtbedömningsinstrument och dokumentation.Slutsatser: För att göra en smärtbedömning behövs en god relation till patienten, närstående och övrig personal där kommunikation har central roll. Sjuksköterskan måste tro på patientens egen skattning och smärtupplevelse..

Background: Vacuum assisted closure, VAC, is a method which can benefit wound closure. There are not many reliable studies about the effects of VAC in different types of wounds. Previous studies have shown that patients have experienced pain during dressing changes.Aim: The aim of the study was to survey in what kind of wounds the vascular surgery ward have been using VAC, to study the treatment process of VAC and how it has been documented and also to investigate if patients with VAC experienced pain during dressing changes.Method: The patients were chosen from a ledger, which contained 77 patients that had been treated with VAC on the vascular surgery ward. Data were collected with a journal survey protocol.Results: The result is based on 67 patients with a total of 79 wounds. VAC was shown to have a good effect on wound healing and infected surgical wounds were the most commonly wound category undergoing treatment with VAC.

Bakgrund: Acceptance & Comittment Therapy (ACT) används i de flesta smärtkliniker i Sverige. Trots att ACT har bra evidens, är det oklart vilka behandlingsprotokoll som används. Syfte: Syftet var att undersöka hur ACT implementeras kliniskt för personer med långvarig smärta. Metod: En databassökning genomfördes med sökorden: "acceptance and commitment therapy" AND "chronic pain" OR "Persistent pain" i : Portal proquest, CINAHL, PubMED och Scopus. De inkluderade studietyperna var RCT-studier, fallstudier, kvalitativa fallstudier, en studie som var både kvantitativ och kvalitativ och en reviewartikel med inkluderad kvalitativ fallstudie.