Question: Patients with sickle cell anemia experience excruciating amounts of pain due to their sickle-shaped red bloodcells clumping together and obstructing blood flow in the vessels, leading to decreased oxygen to the tissues. Since the sickle cell patient is often in pain, they are usually prescribed opioid analgesics during sickle cell crises to manage their severe pain. A common side effect of opioid analgesics is constipation. This is due to the opioids slowing down the peristalsis process of the GI system. It is my recommendation that the nurse should gently palpate the abdomen to assess for fecal impaction, from least painful area to most painful, as to avoid further aggravating the patient's pain since it is likely that they are experiencing a sickle cell crises. If the nurse is unable to assess with gentle palpation, the patient can go undergo an abdominal CT to identify a fecal mass.