Pain Management for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses PDF. As recently as the 1990s, we did not manage animal pain as a rule. We did not even recognize animal pain, nor try to quantify or qualify it, much less treat it.
Pain Management for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses PDF
We were taught that pain was a “good thing” and that it would prevent further postoperative injury by inhibiting an animal’s movement. The truth is we DID know or at least sense that animals were suffering more than necessary, and technicians and nurses all over the world were asking, sometimes begging, to be able to do something, anything for their patients. The reality was no one really knew what to do or how to safely and effectively treat animal pain.
Fast forward to the 21st century when animal pain began to move to the forefront of everyone’s mind. Certainly we have spent the first decade of the 2000s trying to establish guidelines for measuring and treating animal pain. The recommendations have changed many times as we have understood more and more about the ways animals manifest and express painfulness as well as the unique ways that different species respond to analgesic drugs and alternative therapies.
As a result, gone are the days where we believe that “a little pain postoperatively is a good thing” and gone too are the days of veterinary staff watching animals waking up crying, thrashing, and refusing to eat or sleep for days. Today, whether treating companion, exotic, livestock, wild, or laboratory animals, pain management is a choice we can all make.
Unfortunately, there are still those who do not choose optimum pain management holding to some of the old myths or beliefs that pain management is too costly or simply unimportant. As patient advocates, veterinary nurses and technicians bear the responsibility of beating the drum loudly and persistently until optimum pain management is provided for all animals in our care. The knowledge compiled into this book is the key to getting there.
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