Pain Management - How We View Pain

How We View Pain

Pain is different for every person. What may be mild pain for one person could be excruciating for another. For this reason, we accept each person’s level and occurrence of pain as individual, and treat it as such.

How We “Rate” Pain

We find that it is easier for us to treat pain if the patient can “rate” his or her pain level. We use a “zero-to-ten” pain rating scale, with ten being the worst pain imaginable, to assess patients’ pain. This helps us determine individual levels of pain and the most efficient ways to treat them.

Patient Pain Rights

Patients have the right to be informed about:
•	When pain is to be anticipated
•	Use of the Pain Rating Scale
•	Responsibilities regarding pain
•	Adverse side effects of medications
•	Symptoms that should be reported

Patients can help us manage their pain by:
•	Communicating their pain rating goal
•	Communicating when they are in pain
•	Communicating how they feel about taking pain medication
•	Asking what kind of pain they might expect to feel
•	Calling their nurse before pain gets out of control
•	Asking what options there are for relieving their pain

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