Pain Assessment (O.P.Q.R.S.T.)

Question 1

O

Answer 1

ONSET

What the patient was doing when it started (active, inactive, stressed,
whether the onset was sudden, gradual or part of an ongoing chronic problem.

Question 2

P

Answer 2

Provocation

Whether any movement, pressure (such as palpation) or other external factor makes the problem better or worse.

Question 3

Q

Answer 3

Quality of the pain

patient’s description of the pain.
Can you describe it for me?”)
whether it is sharp, dull, crushing, burning, tearing

Question 4

R

Answer 4

Region and radiation

Where the pain is on the body and whether it radiates (extends) or moves to any other area.

Question 5

S

Answer 5

Severity

The pain score (usually on a scale of 0 to 10). Zero is no pain and ten is the worst possible pain. This can be comparative (such as “… compared to the worst pain you have ever experienced”) or imaginative

Question 6

T

Answer 6

Time

How long the condition has been going on and how it has changed since onset (better, worse, different symptoms), whether it has ever happened before, whether and how it may have changed since onset