Knowledge regarding pain and pain treatment is an essential part within nursing that a nurse is responsible for. Earlier studies have shown that lack of that kind of knowledge often results in inadequate treatment for pain. The purpose with the study was to describe nurses? knowledge regarding pain and pain treatment at a medical unit in a hospital in central Sweden, and to see if there was a distinction in knowledge related to professional experience. Data was collected through a questionnaire with questions referring to pain (6 questions) and pain treatment (6 questions).

Background: Cancer-related pain is a major problem worldwide. Studies indicate that patients do not get an adequate pain relief. This creates a large suffering and results in major problems for the patient and their families. In order to minimize this kind of suffering caregivers need to understand how cancer-related pain is experienced by these patients, what it does to them and how it impacts their daily life.  Aim: The aim of this study was to describe patients´ experience of living with cancer-related pain.

In this study, 29 calves were dehorned by heat cauterisation at the age of 1 to 8 weeks. Before the procedure, the calves were given local anaesthetic but were not sedated. In connection with the dehorning, 14 calves were given the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) meloxicam and 15 calves were given placebo. During the following three days behavioural studies were performed to investigate if the different treatments had any effect on the calves´ postoperative behaviour. Head shakes, head rubs, kicks and ear flicks were studied, as earlier studies have shown that an increase in these behavioural patterns suggests postoperative pain.

Propofol is an intravenously administered, hypnotic and short- acting pharmaceutical. One common sideeffect (>1:10) and therefore a disadvantage with propofol is the local pain that arise when the initial injection is given. Why the pain arise is not clearly understood. A majority of different pharmacological treatments, different doses and combinations, alternative administrations methods and physical interventions have been tried to reduce the pain when injection of propofol is given. One important task for the nurse is to relieve pain for patients.

The purpose of the study was based on scientific literature to describe the quality of life of persons who have undergone a total hip replacement. The method was a descriptive literature review. The results showed that pain was the most obvious change after surgery. Mild pain before surgery was strongly associated with mild pain after surgery. But despite less pain were experienced early, it took 1 year to achieve the full benefits of improved physical function.

Assessing and measuring post-operative pain in all animals is a challenge, but doing it in small mammals, for example guinea pigs, presents an even larger difficulty. Validated pain scales developed for use in dogs in clinical practice are currently available, but no such scale has been widely accepted for use in guinea pigs in the veterinary setting. In this experimental study, six guinea pigs that had undergone surgery and anaesthesia were observed for behavioural changes that could be associated with pain. The six guinea pigs were also given pain scores with the use of Colorado State University Feline Acute Pain Scale (CSU-APSF), a scale which uses both behaviour when not handled, body tension and response to palpation to evaluate pain intensity. The six guinea pigs showed a number of different behaviours, for example rigid posture, fixed stare and ?wet dog response? (the body is vigourosly shaken), that could be associated with pain.

Pain and pain treatment constitute a huge part of the general nurses work. For that reason the nurse is required to have great knowledge about this area. The fact that our society is getting more multicultural increase the nurses demands even more, to understand and treat pain in patients of foreign cultural background. The aim of this literature review is to examine which culturally learned and trans-ferred valuations, norms and approaches that appear related to physical pain. The aim is also to examine the most appropriate ways for the nurse to show respect and to get more information about this cultural experience in the encounter with the patient.

The objective of this study was to assess validity and reliability for five different owner-completed instruments evaluated to assess chronic musculoskeletal pain in cats. All of the instruments were questionnaires, three asking about behavioral changes, one about the degree of pain and one about quality of life. One of the instruments was written originally in Swedish, the other four instruments were translated into Swedish before use. Data available were records from 57 cats with no signs of pain and 11 cats with different pain-related diagnoses. The diagnoses were ensured by clinical examination including palpation and manipulation of joints, gait testing on a force-plate and X-ray scans. Instrument 1 was completed by 57 pain-free and 11 pain-affected cats.

One third of all Swedish people will suffer in cancer. Pain is a common symptom in cancer patients. The pain is subjective and includes several dimensions. The dimensions of pain are the physical, psychological, social and spiritual. This is a literature review and the aim with this study was to identify the pain experience in patients with cancer receiving palliative care.

Background: Patients postoperative pain is often underestimated. Untreated or undertreated pain decreases the chance of optimal recovery after surgery. Pain assessment is an important factor of efficient pain relief. Aim: The aim of the literature study was to describe factors of importance for nurses´ assessment of postoperative pain in patients. Method: A literature study was done where qualitative and one quantitative article was reviewed.

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate how VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) is used in the prehospital environment, and describe how patients 40 years and older with acute chest pain describe their pain with help of VAS. Further, to investigate how the literature describes other instruments to evaluate pain. Method: This was a descriptive study and used both literature and empiric material as foundation. The selection consist of the paramedics medical record from one emergency department, 100 men and 100 women with chest pain witch had been transported with ambulance to one hospital in middle of Sweden. A literature review was done in order to see what previous research recommends for pain rating scales.Results: The study showed that 71 (35 %) of 200 individuals pain were rated with VAS according to the guidelines for the ambulance department.

Background: Pressure ulcer is a complication that arises often due to a lowered general condition. Pressure ulcer arise because of long term compressive load application. That?s why it?s of utmost importance as a nurse to work in preventive ways, as the pressure ulcer lead to physical, psychological and social consequences for the patient. Purpose: The purpose was to describe the patients experiences of living with pressure ulcer.

People with dementia often have difficulties expressing their needs. Untreated pain within this group can be manifested as depression, agitation or loss in appetite. It can be a challenging task for a nurse to estimate, treat and evaluate pain for people with dementia. With good knowledge and an empathic approach, nurses can often recognize and relieve pain amongst these people. Despite this, litterature often suggest that unrecognized and untreated pain is common within this group..

The aim of this study was to describe nurses? knowledge of pain. The method used was a systematic literature study. Information was gathered from the databases Blackwell Synergy, Academic Search Elite and Medline, and the keywords used in the search were: pain, knowledge, nurses and nurses.The result was divided into three subgroups; Insignificant documentation and evaluation. More education is necessary.

 Pain is common among women undergoing first trimester surgical abortions. At the postoperative unit, department of gynaecology, University Hospital, Uppsala, the goal is that 80 % of the women should rate pain as £ 3 on a numeric rating scale (NRS), when leaving the unit.The aim of the study was to investigate how rating was performed at the unit and to investigate patient?s perceptions of pain after having undergone first trimester surgical abortion.20 patients (74%) participated in the study. Ninety percent of the patients rated their pain as NRS £ 3 when leaving the unit. Seven patients (35 %) rated their pain as NRS > 3 directly after operation, and 2 (10 %) patients NRS > 3 when leaving the unit.