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Who feels pain scoring is effective and why. As a patient having lots of pain when asked what my pain level was from 1-10 I found it difficult to score for many reasons
1/ I felt it was stupid way to ask about my pain
2/ I compared everything to the extreme pain of labour which has to be one of the worst pains I have ever experienced and I stll wouldnt say a 10
3/ When in pain I wanted the nurse to give me pain meds, not to talk to me ask stupid questions and go away and leave me alone.
Now as a nurse I ask what is your pain score and I hear 8 or 9 from people who are laughing eating reading NOW I am not saying they are not in pain because I do believe they are in pain but not at an 8 or 9 because I firmly believe that is so painful you would be almost at a screaming level, and if you read the description of anything above a 5 or 6 you have to be in agony.
There must be a better way of scoring pain that doesnt involve a number because I dont believe it works.
So what have other people found and is there any more research going on anywhere which will improve the way we report pain 'scoring'
The reason I have to ask about pain score is that I might have specific instructions to give one med or one dose for "mild" pain, another dose or med for "moderate" pain, and yet another for "severe" or breakthrough pain.We're instructed to medicate anything over a 4, and that a pain rating of 7-8 is classed as a medical emergency.
(This doesn't include chest pain, by the way.)
I am surprised to hear that a pain rating of 7-8 gets classified at your hospital as a medical emergency. In my local emergency room, there is a sign detailing how soon a person can expect to have to wait based on their problems, ie heart attack is seen immediately but if the issue is intense pain you can be expected to possibly have to wait up to two hours.
I also have a tough time personally with the pain scale. It is hard to determine how a six is different from a seven. Every person's description of pain is different and if a person has lived with pain for a long time they might be able to tolerate a higher level of pain and give it a lower rating. Also I have heard a lot of women who rank pain lower than maybe they should because they compare it to be less than the pain they had when they were giving birth.
smk1, LPN
2,195 Posts
I always ask for the number and if that number is tolerable for them.