Selected Areas of Care - Pain Management

Pain Management

1. Assess the patient's level of pain by:
• Asking an adult to rate level of pain using a 1-10 scale or visual analog scale or
• Asking a child 3 years of age or older to rate level of pain using a 0-5 faces scale or age-appropriate visular analog scale or
• Using the FLACC pain assessment tool to rate level of pain for a child ranging in age 2 months to 3 years of age or
• Observing behaviors indicative of pain in a patient unable to rate his/her pain (e.g. moaning, grimacing, cltching, restlessness)
2. Administers pain medication(s), when assigned
3. Reports the patient's level of pain to the assigned staff nurse
4. Provides one of the following relief measures:
• repositions the patient or assists the patientto a different position
• gives the patient a backrub
• uses relaxation an/or distraction techniques
• applies heat or cold when assigned
5. Reassesses level of pain by:
• asking an adult patient to rate level of pain using a 0-10 scale or visual analog scale or
• asking a child 3 years or older to rate level of pain using a 0-5 faces scale or age appropriate visual analog scale or
• using the FLACC pain assessment tool to rate level of pain for a child ranging in age 2 months to 3 years of age or
• observing behaviors indicative of pain in a patient unable to rate pain level (e.g. moaning, grimacing, clutching, restlessness)
6. Records
• patient's level of pain
• pain relief measures implemented
• patient response to measures implemented

Mneumonics

PRN

Pain scale 0-10
Reposition, relaxation (there are other things you can do to alleviate the patient's pain level, but this part of the "R" is a reminder for you to do something for the patient's pain)
Need to reassess