Pain: prioritized #1 or not?

[SN_glee]

im currently doing my prioritization and im being confused with pain..i know it's subjective which needs an immediate intervention..my patient is only 1 year old and she's not able to verbalized..will i still prioritized pain?

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

It would be a priority, but certainly not number one. Always follow the ABC's. If her airway is occluded, she isn't breathing, or her heart isn't beating, it's going to kill her a whole lot faster than pain will.

That's a good measure to follow when prioritizing- "Which of these is likely to do the most damage/kill the person the fastest?" Address those first.

I don't know her diagnosis, so if she doesn't have any ABC issues, then follow Maslow's Heirarchy of needs. Pain is one of the first you would address next, along with fluid balance (in my opinion ahead of pain) and nutrition (behind pain). Just because your patient is an infant and cannot verbalize her pain does not mean she isn't experiencing pain. Look up the FLACC scale for measuring pain in an infant.

[Mike R, ADN, BSN, RN]

Ashley put it quite succinctly, I think :)

[RNTutor, BSN, RN]

If you're prioritizing and thinking in terms of an exam (like NCLEX), my understanding is that pain is always considered a "psychosocial" need. In that way, it would be prioritized after things like nutrition and fluid balance, since those are more basic needs according to Maslow.

[foreverLaur]

Agree with the above poster about Maslow's - that is always drilled into our head in nursing school!! ABCs, then think Maslow's!