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Unlabelled: Whether or not acute pain is recalled by consciously remembering it or by simply knowing about that past pain as an autobiographical fact, and the degree to which it can be accurately anticipated ("precalled") was investigated using the remember/know paradigm. Cold Pressor (CP) pain was induced in 97 healthy participants who precalled CP pain and then reported their actual experiences of CP pain, using the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Two weeks later, participants recalled the CP pain and indicated whether each retrospectively selected MPQ descriptor reflected their "remembering" or "knowing" about the pain. Whereas precall ratings significantly underestimated the severity of actual CP pain, recall ratings did not differ significantly from actual CP ratings. Almost three quarters of the MPQ descriptors chosen at recall reflected sensations of CP pain that were clearly, consciously remembered. The proportions of "correct" MPQ descriptors and categories at recall were significantly greater when judged as remembered than when judged as known. These findings suggest that recollections of acute pain at 2 weeks involve episodic memory and to a lesser extent semantic memory, with the former being more accurate., Perspective: Whether previously experienced pain is clearly, consciously remembered or merely recalled as semantic knowledge about one's personal past has never been empirically investigated. Establishing the relative contribution of different types of memory will allow a better understanding of the phenomenological experience of recalling acute pain.

Objective: to conduct a randomised-controlled trial to investigate the effectiveness of two heel-prick devices (Tenderfoot and Genie Lancet) used in the newborn-baby screening test., Design: a randomised-controlled trial., Participants and Setting: the homes of 340 healthy term newborn babies discharged from the maternity unit of Stirling Royal Infirmary, Scotland. Data were collected between April and November 2003., Interventions: babies were randomly allocated to be tested with either the Tenderfoot or Genie Lancet heel-prick device., Measurements: primary study outcomes include (1) quality of the blood sample; (2) time taken to collect the sample; (3) number of heel pricks required to take the sample; (4) whether squeezing of heel was required; (5) pain expressed by the baby; and (6) presence of bruising. A potential intervening variable was the experience of the midwife., Findings: on all outcomes, the Tenderfoot device was more effective than the Genie Lancet. Experienced midwives were more efficient in sample collection., Key Conclusions: this study shows that the Tenderfoot device saves significant time for midwifery staff, improves baby care and reduces the need for more than one heel prick at each test, making it superior to the Genie Lancet device., Implications for Practice: there is a case to be made for midwives to be issued with the Tenderfoot device for neonatal screening.

Summary: Background: It is unclear how expectations of postoperative pain, anxiety and memory for that pain are interrelated. This study aimed to (1) explore the relationship between patients’ expectations, actual pain experiences and retrospective reports of postoperative pain intensity and quality and (2) examine the relationships between pain ratings and measures of patient anxiety. Methods: Twenty-four participants used the short form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) and VASs to report expectations of pain prior to surgery, actual postoperative pain and retrospective ratings 4–6 weeks postoperatively. Anxiety was measured using Spielberger''s state trait anxiety inventory prior to surgery, within 48h following surgery and 4–6 weeks postoperatively. Results: No significant differences were found between intensity ratings of expectations, actual experiences and retrospective ratings of pain. However, kappa analyses revealed inconsistencies in the choice of SF-MPQ descriptors used to express pain quality. Anxiety scores were positively related to pain intensity ratings and negatively related to the consistency between qualitative pain reports. Conclusion: Whilst memory for pain intensity appeared to be more accurate than for pain quality, the study also highlighted difficulties in inferring recollective experiences from verbal reports. The study also confirms the importance of reducing patients’ anxiety and avoiding unrealistic expectations of postoperative pain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper argues that pain should not be regarded as a symptom in isolation but as a component of symptom clusters. Recent research on symptom clusters that involve pain is overviewed, together with data from a single case study. These sources of evidence suggest that pain is commonly associated with other symptoms, especially fatigue, and is an important but not necessarily dominant component of clusters of three or more symptoms. Much more research into the interactions between symptoms, their synergistic effects and their impact on the patient's decisions about symptom management is needed. Nurse researchers are ideally placed to play a leading role in this research agenda, given the focus of nursing practice on symptom and side-effect management. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This review presents evidence of the undertreatment of pain for people with cognitive impairment and explores reasons for this, emphasizing inadequate detection due to lack of suitable pain assessment protocols. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research are made. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Many studies investigating the attenuation of pain by psychological means have confounded cognitive factors with motoric factors. Two experiments were performed to investigate the extent to which intentional movements alone can attenuate experimental pain. Methods: In experiment 1, tolerance and intensity of cold pressor pain administered to the non-dominant hand was measured for two movement conditions, reciprocal eye movements and reciprocal finger movements of the dominant hand. In experiment 2, tolerance and intensity was measured for two reciprocal finger movement conditions, when visual attention was directed to the dominant hand and when visual attention was directed to the location of the noxiously stimulated non-dominant hand. Results: Reciprocal finger movements of the limb contralateral to a noxiously stimulated limb were found to result in significantly longer tolerance times and significantly lower pain intensity ratings when visual attention was directed to and away from the spatial location of the noxious stimulation. Conclusion: These results confirm that movement of the limb contralateral to a noxiously stimulated limb attenuates experimental pain. Further research is required to ascertain whether movement alone attenuates non-experimental pain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]