Chapter 10: Pain Assessment: The Fifth Vital Sign Flashcards
When evaluating a patient’s pain, the nurse knows that an example of acute pain would be:
a. arthritic pain.
b. fibromyalgia.
c. kidney stones pain.
d. low back pain.
c.
Which of the following statements indicates that the nurse understands the pain experience in older adults?
a. “Older persons must learn to tolerate pain.”
b. “Pain is a normal process of aging and is to be expected.”
c. “Pain indicates pathology or injury and is not a normal process of aging.”
d. “Older adults perceive pain to a lesser degree than do younger individuals.”
c.
A 4-year-old boy is brought to the emergency department by his mother. She says he points to his stomach and says, “It hurts so bad.” Which pain assessment tool would be the best choice when assessing this child’s pain?
a. The Descriptor Scale
b. A numeric rating scale
c. The Brief Pain Inventory
d. The Wong-Baker Scale
d.
A patient states that the pain medication is “not working” and rates his postoperative pain as 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Which of the following assessment findings indicates an acute pain response to poorly controlled pain?
a. Confusion
b. Hyperventilation
c. Increased blood pressure and pulse
d. Decreased blood pressure and pulse
c.
The nurse is assessing a patient’s pain. Which of the following is considered the most reliable indicator of pain?
a. Vital signs
b. The physical examination
c. Computerized axial tomography scan findings
d. The subjective report
d.
A patient has had arthritic pain in her hips for several years following a hip fracture. She is able to move around in her room and has not made any complaints so far this morning. However, when asked about her pain, she states that it is “bad this morning” and rates it as 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. What does the nurse suspect?
a. The patient is addicted to her pain medications and is not able to get pain relief due to tolerance.
b. She does not want to trouble the nursing staff with her complaints.
c. She is not in pain but rates it high to receive pain medication.
d. She has experienced persistent pain for years and has become accustomed to it.
d.
Which type of pain occurs due to abnormal processing of the pain impulse through the peripheral or central nervous system?
a. Visceral pain
b. Referred pain
c. Cutaneous pain
d. Neuropathic pain
d.
When assessing the quality of a patient’s pain, which of the following questions should the nurse ask the patient?
a. “When did the pain start?”
b. “Is the pain a stabbing pain?”
c. “Is it a sharp pain or a dull pain?”
d. “What does your pain feel like?”
d.
When assessing a patient’s pain, the nurse knows that an example of visceral pain would be pain due to:
a. hip fracture.
b. cholecystitis.
c. second-degree burns.
d. a leg amputation.
b.
Nociception is the term used to describe noxious stimuli that are typically perceived as pain. During which phase of nociception does the conscious awareness of a painful sensation occur?
a. Perception
b. Modulation
c. Transduction
d. Transmission
a.
When assessing the intensity of a patient’s pain, which of the following questions by the nurse would be appropriate?
a. “What makes your pain better or worse?”
b. “How much pain do you have now?”
c. “How does pain limit your activities?”
d. “What does your pain feel like?”
b.
Which statement about pain experienced by infants is true?
a. Pain in infants can only be assessed through findings of physiological changes, such as increased heart rate.
b. The Wong-Baker scale can be used to assess pain in infants.
c. A procedure that induces pain in adults will also induce pain in infants.
d. Infants feel pain less than adults do.
c.
