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Biomedical subjects

M L Zalon

Publications and source records attributed to M L Zalon.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Comparison of pain measures in surgical patients.

Numerous instruments have been developed for the measurement of pain with various clinical populations. This study was designed to compare pain measures for research in a sample of postoperative patients. The Brief Pain Inventory--Short Form (BPI-SF) was administered along with the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and two visual analogue scales, one for pain while at rest (VAS-R) and one for pain upon movement (VAS-M), in random order, to 115 hospitalized patients twice following their surgery. An additional 29 patients completed the instruments once. Correlations between the visual analogue scales, BPI-SF, and SF-MPQ ranged from .33 to .76 (p < .01), suggesting that the instruments measure different aspects of pain and that instructions can influence the results. Recommendations for the selection of pain measures in patients experiencing acute pain and for future research are described.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Pain in frail, elderly women after surgery.

PURPOSE: To describe the lived experience of postoperative pain in frail, elderly women. DESIGN: Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological approach. SAMPLE, METHOD: 16 hospitalized women from ages 75 to 93, who had abdominal surgery. Unstructured, open-ended interviews were conducted in 1992. FINDINGS: Three major themes emerged: the immediate reality of pain, security, and dealing with pain. The immediate reality of pain consisted of the feeling, awareness, and past imposing on the present. Security consisted of comfort and trust. Dealing with pain consisted of endurance, control, and self-discovery of strategies, the most predominant of which was being still to relieve pain. CONCLUSIONS: The frail elderly women in this study tended to endure pain and to trust nurses to provide pain-relief measures. Nurses should carefully assess pain and the desire of patients for control of pain-relief measures.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Pain management instruction in nursing curricula.

The persistent problem of inadequate assessment of pain, undermedication for pain by nurses, and reports of nurses themselves that they are unprepared to manage various types of pain provided direction for this study. The purpose was to investigate time allocated to pain content, the nature of the theoretical content and clinical experiences in nursing curricula, and faculty satisfaction with their graduates' preparation for pain management in baccalaureate and associate degree programs. The 80% response rate included 177 associate degree and 174 baccalaureate nursing programs. No significant differences between associate degree and baccalaureate programs for the amount of time allocated to pain content, pharmacological management of pain and nonpharmacological pain relief methods were found. Nonpharmacological methods are introduced to students, but most programs do not provide in-depth instruction. The majority of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their graduates' preparation for pain management, but less satisfied with the amount of time allocated to pain content in the curriculum. Implications for education and research are discussed.

Attitude↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A prime-time primer for distance education.

The use of distance technology for course delivery in nursing programs is increasing. The author describes the basic components of interactive instruction using videoconferencing technology. Suggestions for modifications to course materials and strategies for modifying teaching for a videoconferencing format are described. Methods to evaluate a distance learning class and the results of a student survey are presented.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗