Barriers to Effective Pain Management (Clinical FEATURE‪)‬

Introduction Patient barriers can be organised into two important areas. The first relates to anxiety and its relationship to the experience of pain, while the second are factors that prevent patients reporting their pain. In a study investigating patients' knowledge of common medical terms and their surgical care, findings revealed that many held misconceptions about pain management and a significant number were unaware that the anaesthetist was medically qualified (Laffey 2000). It is important to recognise how familiar we may be with our hospital world but for many it remains a frightening mystery.