'Something for your pain, dear'?

As a student nurse in the middle '70s, I recall being struck by the unsophisticated and somewhat haphazard way pain relief following surgery was managed. I had been expecting to receive tuition in the clinical environment, as my classroom studies had not included any reference to pain or pain management. I was, like other staff on the ward, largely ignorant of pain physiology and pain psychology, and accustomed to making subjective judgement of other people's pain, based largely on my own misconceptions and inappropriate inherited attitudes. This, in turn, led to analgesia being offered in much the same way as a 'nice cup of tea', 'Something for your pain, dear?' Standard doses of analgesia were prescribed for the majority of patients via intramuscular or oral routes, and the actual dose administered was randomly selected by nursing staff and delivered at varying intervals. Thankfully, over the last few years, things have started to change.