Pain Scales

[dekatn]

I need some help, as everybody knows pain is the big thing now. How do some of you document and keep tabs on the level of pain your pt. is experiencing, pain med given, and then go back and document follow up pain relief. Do you have a certain form, mar or whatever to help keep up with all this?

We are trying to come up with a workable and user friendly solution to document level of pain, med given, follow up pain and all the other stuff that is required now days with out taking so much time to go to different pages to document everything. If anybody has a good form or solution that you use at your hospital, any input or advice would be appreciated.

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

Too funny...you should have told your instructor that you are only gonna say this to people already complaining of pain...could understand if you were doin' an assessment though... :chuckle but you couldn't get kicked out of NS.

I wish you could have been there. It was like I did the evilest thing ever!

The reason I can't remember is because I tuned it out

[Bobylon]

"On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst pain ever, what would you say your pain rate is?" Can you describe your pain, for example, is it stabbing, aching, throbbing, sharp, constant, etc... Administer nontherapeutic/therapeutic medication(s) and 30 minutes later, depending on what was administered....check the pain rating again to see if medication(s) was effective. This is what I am used to.

Sounds similar to ours .... we have computerized MARs, but not computerized charting, yet. We do pain assessment, at the minimum, when we do vital signs (2x per 8 hr shift), or if a patient calls out for pain relief ,scale of 0 - 10, location, note if a routine check or if med is needed/administered, note sedation level, and record follow up pain level within 60 minutes if med was administered. This is documented on the back of the page we on which we chart the patient's vital signs. The record of what med was given, along with the pain level/location and comments, is in the electronic MAR. But we do have the paper trail as well, just without recording what med was given there.

[CECE,RN]

That's sounds like me and my motto in NS...tune 'em out. :chuckle Way to go!

I wish you could have been there. It was like I did the evilest thing ever!

The reason I can't remember is because I tuned it out