Pain Scale Level 5 Assignment

Assignment one

Knowledge criteria

Pain scale

Before we can correctly or effectively treat a client one of the first things we need to do is to complete a subjective assessment.

The dictionary describes subjective assessment as:

“Those facts presented by the client that show his/her perception, understanding, and interpretation of what is happening.”

1) http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/subjective+assessment+data

It is interesting that the dictionary uses the words, “perception” and “interpretation” as pain itself is very subjective and the pain the client may be in is very much dependant on that persons interpretation and not necessarily an accurate evaluation of the damage or degree of injury.

Pain itself can interestingly

Now even though I was getting constant electrical shocks to the heart and having pathways burnt to create scar tissue I still would not describe my pain level as 10, to me a pain scale level 10 would be something like having to cut off your own arm with a pocket knife while stuck on a mountain

Have they slept better, have they eaten, have they possibly even eaten a natural anti inflammatory, have they drunk more. In essence the pain scale 1-10 is at any given time no diagnosable reference to the overall damage of the injury and only just an estimated reading of the client overall emotional and physical ability to interoperate how they are feeling at that moment.

Now that does not mean that the scale is irrelevant. Every person has different pain levels and reacts differently to pain. The pain scale can however be used on an individual basis.

If a client comes in complaining of a pain scale of 9, our job is to try reducing their pain, so after treatment we reassess and our goal is to reduce that number. Pain scale may not be universal but it can be on a client by client basis.

It is also worth remembering and taking into account that pain itself is not necessarily a physical event rather the brains response to an event and that sometimes a client’s pain may not be a sign of a physical injury but rather a pshycological