Pain meds

[lkhrn]

Looking for a handy pain Med card that correlates to patient pain score. Ie if patient says pain is score 5 then appropriate Med to address that pain is xxx. Our Mar informs us of this info for prescribed pain med - but a quick reference card for convo with MD when looking for another Med more appropriate for the score would be handy. Of course many reasons for yes or no on request - I'm just looking for handy reference ..... prob a reference card to hang behind badge.

[heron, ASN, RN]

Google "WHO pain ladder"

[MunoRN, RN]

Pain scores aren't intended to translate to a specific pain medication or dose, trying to do that is "neither appropriate nor safe" according to the Society of Pain Management Nursing (and common sense). I think we sometimes get confused that because the pain scoring system consists of numbers that they are therefore objective and can be correlated to dosages from one patient to another. Really, one person's 10/10 pain might be fully alleviated with just Tylenol, another patient's 2/10 might appropriately require larger doses of opiates to alleviate.

Appropriate conversations with the MD about changes to the pain management plan should be based on patient-specific responses to the pain medications be currently used, as well as an assessment of what the appropriate level of pain control for this patient should be.