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Article: The Impact of Technology on the Analgesic Gap and Quality of Acute Pain Management
- Article from:
- Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
- Article date:
- May 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Churchill Livingstone Inc., Medical Publishers May/Jun 2005. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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National surveys continue to document the undertreatment of acute postoperative pain, despite the availability of evidence-based, clinical practice guidelines and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards. This article surveys factors that contribute to persistent gaps during the acute pain management process, including deficiencies in providing continuous analgesia, disparities in access to medical care, the acute pain medicine culture itself, a lack of adequate pain assessment, health care provider biases, and limited health care resources. The role of technology in increasing patients' control over their own pain management and narrowing these gaps is ...