Pain Assessment

Question 0

What is transduction?

Answer 0

• tissue damage

- sends pain impulse to spinal cord

Question 1

What are the 4 phases of pain?

Answer 1

Transduction
Transmission
Perception
Modulation

Question 2

What is transmission?

Answer 2

• pain impulse travels from spinal cord to brain

Question 3

What is perception?

Answer 3

• cerebral cortex interprets pain

Question 4

what is modulation?

Answer 4

• pain messages may be inhibited

Question 5

What are the 2 types of pain?

Answer 5

acute pain - causes sympathetic response - fight or flight

chronic pain - lasts >6 months - persistent, unrelieved pain; may cause parasympathetic response

Question 6

Sources of pain (4)

Answer 6

Nociceptive
Neuropathic
Cancer/malignant
Referred

Question 7

What is nociceptive pain?

Answer 7

• Normal response
• visceral pain - stimulation of the nociceptors in INTERNAL organs
• Deep or superficial somatic pain - deep = stimulation of receptors in skeletal muscles, joints and fascia; - superficial = result of pain in receptors found in skin and subcutaneous tissues

Question 8

What is neuropathic pain?

Answer 8

• abnormal response; caused by direct damage to the somatosensory nervous system (ex: phantom limb)

Question 9

What is pain?

Answer 9

• an essential somatic sensation to signals tissue-damage; the position of the pain indicates an underlying cause

Question 10

Subjective pain data

Answer 10

pain is whatever a patient says it is

use pqrstu

Question 11

What is PQRSTU?

Answer 11

P = provocative or palliative - what brings it on?; what relieves it?
Q = quality of the pain - what does it feel like?; what words describe it?
R = region or radiation - where is it?; does it move to other areas?
S = severity - how would you rate the pain on a severity scale?
T = timing/onset of the pain - when did it start?; is it constant?
U = understanding of pain - what do you think is causing it?

Question 12

Objective pain data

Answer 12

• brief pain inventory

- pain rating scales: numeric rating scale; descriptor scale; faces of pain scale

Question 13

What is the best indicator pain?

Answer 13

Self-report; make sure to ask patients regularly