Nurses normally report levels of pain to the physician when asking for pain medications. Many caregivers will have misconceptions about the residents' ability to benefit from the treatment of pain, and therefore will not adequately communicate the level of pain the patient has. Even when pain is accurately reported, barriers to treatment remain. Mr. Martin explained that many physicians are overly conservative when dispensing pain medication due to misplaced fears about side effects. This fear can lead to inadequate treatment.
Many physicians take extra care, sometimes too much care, to avoid the medication side effects.
This is fine as long as it does not result in the patient getting inadequate pain relief. Other physician concerns revolve around ethics. Many physicians avoid large doses of analgesics for fear of aiding suicide attempts or creating addictions. The government is always looking over our shoulders and the physicians' shoulders, especially when the analgesics prescriptions being written are for narcotics. As a result, many physicians tend to shy away from large doses and the prescribing of narcotics.