Grant McculloughRN, MN, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Midcentral Acute Pain Management Service, NZ
I have been a Clinical Nurse Specialist specialising in acute pain management based in Palmerston North for the last 23 years. Or team plays a pivotal role in optimising patient outcomes through evidence-based pain assessment and intervention strategies. My strong clinical background and advanced nursing practice, allow me to collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams to ensure safe, effective, and compassionate care for patients experiencing complex pain conditions. I am passionate about education and clinical leadership, providing guidance to nursing staff and contributing to the development of best-practice. Over the last 14 years I have been involved in starting and running a faith based residential rehabilitation centre run by “outer city mission trust” our charity provides short-medium term supervised accommodation and holistic support for individuals wanting help in their recovery from addictions, self-harm, and other dysfunctional coping behaviours. This work has given me a unique perspective on some of the challenges facing our society, both now and in the near future.
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Issues of Addiction
My presentation seeks to deal with the reality of people within addiction presenting in our hospitals and the appropriate management of their pain. In the present environment opioid reduction is very much in vogue, which of course is very timely. This coincides with and is a reaction to a society that is becoming increasingly reliant on pharmaceutical solutions to their problems. This reliance can lead to the misuse of prescribed medication and the use of recreational drugs, both of which have a real impact on the management when the person becomes an inpatient. As health professionals this creates very real challenges. In pain management this challenge is very real as we endeavour to control patients’ pain, keep them safe, get to the truth of what we are dealing with. In my presentation I attempt to address these issues head on so we can understand some of the thought processes that drive our decision making and whether they are helpful, while providing some insight from my years of experience dealing with helping people recover and walk free from their addictions.
