Pain is experienced by many patients in primary and secondary
care and its assessment and management is a fundamental aspect
of nursing treatment. Community nurses need to possess a strong
knowledge base of the various ways of treating pain to inform and
advise their patients. This in turn enables nurses to help and empower
patients to effectively control their pain with minimal side-effects. This
article, the second in a two-part series on pain, provides an update on
the management of acute and chronic non-malignant pain (the first
part of this article, on the assessment of pain, appeared in Journal of
Community Nursing 28[4]: 83–86).