A nurse is caring for a patient who is experiencing pain following abdominal surgery. Which information is important for the nurse to share with the patient when providing patient education about effective pain management?

A) "To prevent overdose, you need to wait to ask for pain medication until you begin to experience pain."
B) "You should take your medication after you walk to make sure you do not fall while you are walking."
C) "We should work together to create a schedule to provide regular dosing of medication."
D) "When you experience severe pain, you will need to take oral pain medications."

One way to maximize pain relief while potentially decreasing opioid use is to administer analgesics around the clock (ATC) rather than on a prn basis. This approach ensures a more constant therapeutic blood level of an analgesic. Working with the patient to design a schedule allows the patient to be a full partner in the care provided. The nurse should not wait until pain is experienced because it takes medications 10-30 minutes to begin to relieve pain. The nurse administers pain medications before painful activities, such as walking, and administers intravenous medications when a patient is having severe pain.