Assessment of Pain Flashcards
A common, uncomfortable sensation and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage
Pain
The _________ requires that pain be assessed and documented for all patients in all health care facilities; repeated assessment; prompt treatment of reported pain; pain intensity be recorded
Joint Commission
Sudden, of short duration, and usually associated with surgery, injury, or acute illness
Acute pain
Persistent, lasting weeks or months or longer, and usually associated with prolonged disease
Chronic
The transmission of pain impulses from the site of injury or tissue damage to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and brain
Nociception
Carry sharp, well-localized pain which is quickly transmitted
Myelinated A-delta fibers (large)
Carry dull, burning, diffuse, and chronic pain, which is slowly transmitted
Unmyelinated C-polymodal fibers (small)
What are some influences (5) that can impact the perception of pain?
- Emotions
- Cultural background
- Sleep deprivation
- Previous pain experience
- Age
True or False:
Newborns may be more sensitive to pain stimuli than older infants and children.
True; newborns are less able to modify pain impulses
Why do people have individualized responses to pain?
Pain is analyzed in the brain and everyone is different
Which vital sign is pain known as?
5th
When a patient complains of pain, how should it be assessed?
- Onset,
- Quality
- Intensity
- Location
- Associated symptoms [nausea, fatigue, behavior change, etc.]
Why is it difficult to assess pain in older adults?
- Cognitive impairment (sometimes there is need for family member to describe the patient’s expression of pain)
- Dementia patients are especially difficult to assess
Name some (8) possible behaviors related to pain
- Facial expressions
- Vocal expressions
- Body movements
- Changes in vital signs
- Pallor
- Pupil dilation
- Dry mouth
- Decreased attention span
Name 4 classic pain patterns.
- Bone and tissue pain may be tender, deep, and aching
- Heavy, throbbing, and aching pain may associated with a tumor pressing on a cavity
- Burning, shock like pain may indicate nerve tissue damage
- Cramping spasms may define visceral or colic pain
Pain scale generally used with adults or adolescents who possess the cognitive capability to understand the pain scale; Rate pain from 0-10
Numeric Pain Intensity Scale
Pain scale is used to assess pain in preterm and full-term infants up to 6 weeks; infant’s facial expression, cry, breathing pattern, arm and leg movements, and state of arousal are observed and scored
Neonatal Infant Pain Scale
Pain scale meant to be used for children as young as the age of 3 years; the pain scale of has pictures of real children making a face, according to the pain rating, 0-10 scale
Oucher Scale
Pain scale best used for premature infants but can also be used for full-term neonates and infants; gestational age, behavioral state, HR, O2 saturation, brow bulge, eye squeeze; nasolabial furrow to assess procedural pain in preterm and full-term neonates btw 28 and 40 wks gestation
Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP)
Pain scale is used to assess adults or those with the cognitive capability to understand the pain scale; mutidimentional measure of pain, allowing a measure of intensity, quality, and localization of the pain
Painometer
Pain scale is meant to be used for children as young as the age of 3 years; cartoon face depicting pain on a 0-5 scale
Wong/Baker Faces Rating Scale
Pain scale assesses procedural and surgical pain in newborns and infants; crying requires O2, increased vital signs, expression, sleepiness
CRIES scale
Pain scale used for nonverbal children, assessing face, legs, activity, cry, and consolability; used most commonly to assess acute pain ass’d with surgery in children between 2 months and 7 years
FLACC
Pain abnormality; A form of chronic pain caused by a primary lesion or dysfunction of the CNS that persists beyond expected after healing; postherptic neuralgia, diabetic peripheral neuropath, trigeminal neuralgia, radiculopathy
Neuropathic pain
Pain abnormality, the presence of regional pain (beyond the site of specific nerve injury) with motor, sensory, and autonomic changes; follows a predominantly traumatic noxious event w/(o) specific nerve injury
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
