[lezanne]

Doyou use the pain scale 0 to 10?
How do most of your patients comprehend the scale?
Do you use additional handouts to educate each patient? And what do ou use? Pictures or written material?
I am finding that most patient state ranges from 6 to 10. Very few rate their pain below 5.

[ArmyKitten]

When asking about pain, I normally word the question this way (keep in mind most of my pts are soldiers):

"What is your current pain level, on a scale of zero to ten, with zero meaning pain free, and ten meaning the absolute worst possible pain imaginable, such as a jeep parked on your kneecaps".

Most of my pts rate their pain number high too- so I will look at the charting from the previous shifts to see what they have been rating their pain over the past day or so. It isn't so much about what the number is as it is if that number is increasing or decreasing, and if that number is considered to be "tolerable" to the pt or not.

[ArmyKitten]

I forgot to add- I often chart a FLACC score along with the pt's verbal reply to 0-10 scale. This covers me, and gives better info to the next nurse when evaluating the pts pain. They can say they are a 9/10, but if they are smiling, talking on their cell phone, eating a double bacon cheeseburger and watching TV- that extra bit of documentation is needed.