Culture's effects on pain assessment and management

Abstract

Minority patients are at high risk for poor pain outcomes. When patients belong to a culture or speak a language that's different from that of their health care provider, the provider faces additional challenges in successfully assessing and managing the patients' pain. This article describes how and why culture affects both patients and nurses. It also discusses why members of cultural minority groups frequently receive suboptimal pain management and how nurses can improve patients' pain outcomes by using culturally sensitive assessments and providing culturally comfortable care.