Page 6 - BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice

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Introduction

Ian Self

The recognition and treatment of pain has can also lead to confusion over suitability of a
always been a vital aspect of small animal particular drug for a particular presentation.
practice. Good pain management improves This BSAVA Guide has been produced with
patient care and owner satisfaction, as well as the busy practitioner in mind. Although there
contributing to greater professional satisfaction are many excellent pain and analgesia
for veterinary personnel involved in treating textbooks available, this Guide has been
patients. ver the last 1 years, management of designed to be a ‘bedside’ companion for pain
small animal pain has progressed rapidly. This is and analgesia practitioners. It is divided into
in no small part due to the introduction of a sections examining acute and chronic pain,
number of validated pain scales, which have together with the physiological basis of pain
vastly improved our ability to detect pain and, and the pharmaceutical options available for
more importantly, to assess the e ectiveness of treatment. The Guide then discusses common
analgesic interventions and decide if further clinical conditions by systems/diseases to allow
treatment is necessary. easy identi cation of where to seek help when
Despite these advances in the basic faced with a patient in pain. It also examines
understanding of pain, veterinary surgeons pain in exotic pet species, as well as having
(veterinarians) and nurses are faced with a larger important sections on physical therapies and
variety of cases of increasing complexity as the the role of nursing in the alleviation of su ering.
knowledge and ability to treat previously The contributors who have written the
untreatable conditions increases. This inevitably individual chapters are all specialists in their
presents us with new challenges when dealing respective elds and are currently working in
with pain in unfamiliar clinical situations where rst opinion or referral practice. hey all share
there may be multiple co-morbidities to rst hand knowledge of the e ects of pain on
consider. In addition to new clinical techniques their patients and are uniquely placed to be
and recognized conditions, there are increasing able to advise on the most useful analgesia
numbers of licensed analgesic agents being techniques in particular clinical situations. With
introduced into the veterinary market. Whilst this in mind, whilst all the chapters are based on
o ering greater scope for pain treatment, this published evidence, a unique feature of this

BSAVA Guide to Pain Management in Small Animal Practice. Edited by Ian Self. ©BSAVA 2019 1

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