Helping Your Coma Patients' Pain With Smart IV Pumps
Coma patients might not seem like they go through many changes throughout their treatment. However, modern science now believes that these patients suffer from severe pain, just like your conscious patients. If you are struggling to provide your coma patients with the proper pain medication, a smart IV pump can help.
Your Coma Patients May Suffer From Pain
Though your coma patients may not show symptoms of pain, a growing number of studies are showing that they very likely do experience it. This situation is frightening to consider because you could have dozens of unconscious patients unable to explain their level of pain to you.
As a result, their qualities of life are very low and filled with more pain than you might anticipate. As a medical professional, you have sworn to minimize your patients' suffering as much as possible. Unfortunately, providing them with the healthy levels of painkilling medications may be tougher than anticipated.
Assessing This Pain Is Hard
Take a look at a coma patient in your ward and try to guess how much pain they are feeling. It is impossible to do at a glance. Most are not going to show outward signs of pain, which means it is hard to know how much painkillers they need.
Even worse, their pain levels may change throughout the day, meaning that they need more painkillers at some points than they do others. Manually adjusting their painkiller doses is going to be extremely hard, so it is best to consider a smart IV pump for their needs.
How A Smart Pump Helps
The hardest part about assessing the pain of a coma patient is their lack of communication. Without the ability to discuss their pain, you need an IV pump that can read their vital signs and give them the proper levels of pain medication at the right time. For example, a smart IV pump can detect if their heart is racing and decide if a little extra pain medication is necessary.
However, they can also alert you if the pain medication levels get too high or if the patient is suffering from more serious problems. In this way, you can make sure that your coma patients' needs are fully understood, assessed, and treated in a way that improves your overall level of nursing care.
So if you have a large number of coma patients in your facility and you aren't sure how to help them manage their pain, don't hesitate to get smart IV pumps. While they will cost a little extra than other types, they can still provide your patients with the help they need to manage their pain.