"My pain is about an eight and a half"

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Do you ever get patients who give you decimals for their report of pain? Somehow they lose credibility with me when they do this. Seriously, they can't settle on either and 8 or a 9? And, they think that we really care to that degree?

I'm at the point where I document what they state their pain is and then also document what I perceive their pain to be on the faces scale. If they give me half numbers, I round up.

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If someone reporting their pain to be an 8.5 irritates the hell out of me, I figure I must actually be having a really good shift.

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To be fair, I've never heard anyone ask for a pain rating as a whole number. Most people are genuinely trying to be helpful. I also think most lay people overestimate the importance that number has on their care.

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I work with a lot of engineers, chemists, and other scientists. They tend to report things in the decimals or use overly specific language just because that is how their brain works. They are not "scales" they are "load cells," the bendy part on a straw is not the "bendy part" it is the "bellows flex joint" etc.

Don't worry, nurses have their own weird language that drives other professional nuts as well.

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Specializes in Cardiac Stepdown, PCU.

I had one patient while I worked SAR always tell me 13.9. Every. Single. Time. :no:

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I've never given a pain rating of a 10. I'll only go as high as a 9.

I figure there could always be something WORSE than what I'm experiencing at this time.

So a decimal does make sense to me for Myself.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

My own Personal Pain Scale:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27663[/ATTACH]

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If someone reporting their pain to be an 8.5 irritates the hell out of me, I figure I must actually be having a really good shift.

Yeah, the decimal doesn't really bother me, per se. But as I mentioned before, it can make it hard to determine the right amount of pain medication to give.

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I had one patient while I worked SAR always tell me 13.9. Every. Single. Time. :no:

I don't know why, but I think that one would kind of make me laugh

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Yeah, the decimal doesn't really bother me, per se. But as I mentioned before, it can make it hard to determine the right amount of pain medication to give.

Is it going to be that different if you treat for 8 rather than 9, or 9 rather than 8?

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

Yes, I have pt's give me the decimal. What I find more annoying, is pt's who can't say within, or even near, the 0-10 scale.

Me: "on a scale of 0-10, can you rate your pain?"

Pt: "Ten thousand"

Me: :cautious: (hopefully only on the inside)

20 minutes after dilaudid:

Me: "Now hour would you rate your pain on the 0-10 scale?"

Pt: **Groans** "THAT DID NOTHING!!! I need more of that D-stuff. It's still a 9."

What I want to say: "Really? We just reduced your pain by 99% and you are mad at me that it didn't work. Ummm, ok."

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Not often, but yes... I had a '7.5' lately, and ok, this is not decimals, but I've had '12', '14', and that patient told me her initial post-surgery pain was a 20. I hope I'm not a patient any time soon, but I should say, when asked about pain, that it's 'Pi'. "Pie?". 'Yeah, you know, 3.14?'

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