The efficacy of any analgesics must also be described. In this way, adjustments to medication and dosing can be managed effectively. These include narcotic as well as non-narcotic medications. Oral analgesics are also utilized. A controlled-release long acting analgesic such as Oxycontin is very helpful when patients are converting from PCA or IM analgesia to oral analgesia.
Patients subsequently wean to short-acting analgesics.
Some of these alternative medical modalities include acupuncture, biofeedback, magnets, and herbal therapies. Patients should be encouraged to utilize alternative treatments of pain management if they are effective whereas traditional therapies fail. Each procedure and each patient must be assessed individually in arriving at the appropriate plan for pain management. For the treatment of moderate or severe pain, narcotic analgesics are utilized. Communication with the patient is very important to choose the initial treatment, and re-assessment followed by any necessary adjustment in pain management is crucial to continue to treat the patient s pain successfully.