The purpose of this integrative literature review was to understand the effects of medical cannabis for chronic pain management in adults. Anecdotal reports suggest the use of medical marijuana as a pain management therapy could be an alternative to opioids and other medications which have long term consequences. Potential uses span the health care continuum, from prescribed outpatient symptom management, to acute care, extended care, home care, and hospice treatment settings. The methodology included a review and synthesis of relevant research articles from 2012 to 2018, written in the English language. The findings suggest medical cannabis has the potential of effectively managing chronic pain in older adults. Adverse effects, if present, are mild and resolve without intervention. Lower doses of medical cannabis were reported to be more effective in treating chronic pain compared to higher doses. Inconsistencies in the efficacy of THC were noted compared to CBD for managing neuropathic pain. Implication for nursing practice, policy, education, and recommendation for future research were discussed along with study limitations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-1629 |
| Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Creators | Asevedo, Bridget A |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Honors Undergraduate Theses |
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