ABSTRACT
Pain, an important and serious symptom, is one of the most compelling reasons for seeking medical care (Weiner, 1993). Nine of ten Americans age 18 years or older report suffering pain at least once a month, and 42% of adults report experiencing pain every day, with more than 70% surveyed expressing the fear of dying in pain or alone without an opportunity to say good-bye to loved ones (Gallup, Inc., 1999). Chronic pain is an estimated daily experience of 75 million people in the United States (Bostrom, Ramberg, Davis, & Fridlund, 1997). In the last decade interest in pain and management of pain has risen, largely due to the revelation that inadequate pain control is a norm under traditional clinical management (Rorarius & Baer, 1994). Surveys over the past decade have shown as many as 75% of postoperative patients unnecessarily suffer unrelieved pain (Shapiro, 1994). A survey was conducted in an attempt to identify medical personnel and patient attitudes toward the use of opioids in postoperative analgesia with the finding that 82% of surveyed physicians responded that they had not been adequately educated in pain management, while patients indicated more than half wanted decision capacity on when more analgesia should be given them for pain relief (Lavies, Hart, Rounsefell, & Runciman, 1992).
