The Water is Wet.
After seeing a new patient in the ER the other night, I told a colleague about the difficulties I'd been having eliciting details from the patient. I've been taught its important to ask about the quality of pain, the severity, whether or not it radiates anywhere as well as its timecourse (among other things!). I expressed my frustration to my colleague and said that knowing my luck, by the time we went with our staff to round on the patients, my patient would be much more talkative and my staff would chastise me for not having obtained the necessary information. Rounds rolled around late that evening and when the staff physician asked the patient to describe her pain, she thought about it for a moment and then said simply "its painful".
Medicine student: 1, Staff:0
Medicine student: 1, Staff:0
posted by Rachel @ 10:14 p.m.
2 Comments:
At 10/18/2007 6:07 p.m.,
The Parkers said…
How do you rate the "quality" of pain?
-So, Mr. X, I see you are writhing on the floor, with blood squirting out of orifices I never ever learned about in school. I give you an A-. Too bad; with some bile or a strangled scream this would be A material.
At 10/18/2007 10:29 p.m.,
Rachel said…
"Quality" of pain = adjectives to describe how it feels. Some examples to get you started: stabbing, shooting, burning, throbbing, lancinating, squeezing, crushing, dull.. you get the idea.
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