Compact Clinical Guide to Women's Pain Management: An Evidence-Based Approach for Nurses

"This wonderful and insightful book is an excellent resource for providers caring for women experiencing pain. This group of patients is considered a vulnerable population that is often faced with issues of power imbalance and lack of understanding from the healthcare professionals charged with providing them assistance. This unique book is an excellent resource for all primary care providers and pain management providers... Weighted Numerical Score: 99 - 5 Stars!"

ìThe care provided to women in pain unfortunately often adds to the suffering rather than relieving it. This clinical resource describes instead the evidence-based approach to womenís pain that offers optimum relief as well as a compassionate responseÖ Congratulations to Yvonne for creation of this resource, which will serve as an excellent tool for clinicians dedicated to pain relief for women. ì

-Betty Ferrell, PhD, MA, FAAN, FPCN, CHPN
Professor and Research Scientist
City of Hope, Duarte, California

Recent research studies have indicated that there is a difference between the pain experienced by men and that experienced by women. This is the only clinical reference specifically geared to management of all commonly presented pain conditions particular to women. It is written by an NP Pain Management Specialist for nurses in all settings, and provides evidence-based guidelines for treating womenís pain as a unique entity. Concise and portable, the guide delivers key information and helpful pain strategies that will support individualized pain management approaches and help to improve pain management outcomes.

The guide provides quick access to nursing guidelines for treatment of pain due to fibromyalgia, TMJ pain, phantom breast pain, postmastectomy pain syndrome, menstrually related migraine headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, and STD-related and pelvic pain. Pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment options, current information from national guidelines (including using a combination of pain management scales for optimal pain assessment and management), along with regional anesthesia techniques, patient-controlled analgesia, and epidural pain management are also included. In addition, the guide discusses options for managing extreme pain situations, how to screen and treat potential substance abusers, and the physiologic bases of gender-different pain responses. Each chapter features a section called ëNursing Considerationsí which focuses on interventions and techniques to improve outcomes. Of particular note is a section on managing pain in obese women who suffer from pelvic pain syndromes and fibromyalgia, among other types of pain.

• Focuses on evidence-based clinical management of all commonly presented pain conditions particular to women
• Discusses pharmacologic and complementary pain management
• Addresses physiologic bases of gender-different pain responses
• Provides cutting edge information regarding pain in obese women and managing extreme pain situations
• Offers new information on opioid polymorphisms that guide understanding of why pain medication is sometimes less effective than expected