Pain assessment

 Definition of pain – WHO definition

 Introduce concept of the biopscychosocial model of patient care in the context of pain
 Conduct a simple pain assessment scenario using all elements of pain assessment-
o precipitating factors,
o quality of the pain/descriptors,
o radiation
o Severity using pain assessment tool
o Timing (whens the pain worse etc.)
 Elements of taking pain assessment, including use of family/carer information
 Use of pain assessment tools- and documentation
o Frequency of pain assessments
o Follow up after initial assessment- how will this occur?
 Patient/family education regarding pain assessment-
o How to use long acting strong analgesia
o When to use Breakthrough medication
o Help to diarise pain experience, medications sued
o Storage of pain medication at home

Outcomes

 Provide a simple definition of pain in palliative care

 Understand the biopscychosocial model of patient management in the context of pain
assessment
 Elicit a basic pain history from a patient and/or their carer and using a pain assessment tool,
document the results
 Understand concept of ongoing/subsequent/frequency of pain assessment
 Understand how education of patient and carer can improve quality of ongoing pain
assessment

References

Noble B, Clark D, Meldrum M, ten Have H, Seymour J, Winslow M, et al. The measurement of

pain, 1945-2000. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2005 Jan;29(1):14-21.

Caresearch, available < https://www.caresearch.com.au/caresearch/tabid/746/Default.aspx>

accessed April 10, 2017