Pain Relief Management in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU): A Systematic Review

Pain is one of the most complex processes in the human body, having various physical and psychological dimensions. To date, many preliminary studies have been conducted in the field of pain management in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), but to our knowledge, no study has been found that summarizes the results in one article. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate pain reduction management in the ICU via systematic review.

To find studies related to the research objective, the databases SID, MagIran, Embase, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and Google Scholar were searched using the keywords Therapy, Interventive, Intervention, Therapeutics, Therapies, Treatment, Effect, Management, Intensive Care Units, ICU, and Pain with no time limit until September 2021. A qualitative assessment of articles was performed using the checklist CONSORT.

During the initial search, 7190 studies were found, of which 56 articles were finally included after deleting studies not related to the purpose of the research. According to the studies, it can be concluded that pain medications significantly reduce pain in the ICU, but the effectiveness of different medications varies. In addition to medications, Complementary and traditional medicine methods such as acupuncture, massage therapy, music therapy, cold therapy and the use of lavender can also contribute to pain relief in the ICU. However, further studies are needed on the effects of other therapies, including hypnosis, meditation, and education.

The results of this study show that modern and traditional medicine treatments are complementary. Therefore, in the ICU, they can be used as a supplement to manage patients’ pain.