Pain Assessment Tools in Practice

Take time to reflect on the following with regard to pain relief strategies in your own ED:

• Are patients encouraged to report pain?
• What pain assessment tool or tools are in use?
• When and where are pain assessment tools applied?
• Where is the pain score recorded? Is this ideal?
• Are the pain assessment tools appropriate for your ED case-mix?
• When was the last time your department audited its performance regarding analgesic provision?
• What did the audit show?
• What changes were suggested and implemented?
• Was change effective?

Fig. 12 Faces pain rating scale used in paediatric cases and the pain ruler