For the assessment and control of pain, Little Company of Mary has instituted a pain management initiative for all our patients. Relieving patients’ pain is important to us. Keeping pain under control speeds recovery and allows a better quality of life. Some pain is unavoidable, but most pain can be prevented or controlled. For this reason, we have included a pain rating in our normal assessment of vital signs, such as temperature, pulse and blood pressure. To us, this pain rating has become known as “the fifth vital sign.”  

Pain is different for every person. What may be mild pain for one person could be excruciating for another. For this reason, we accept each person’s level and occurrence of pain as individual and treat it as such.

We find that it is easier for us to treat pain if the patient can “rate” his or her pain level. We use a “zero-to-ten” pain rating scale, with ten being the worst pain imaginable, to assess patients’ pain. This helps us determine individual levels of pain and the most efficient ways to treat them.

Patients have the right to be informed about:

• When pain is to be anticipated
• Use of the Pain Rating Scale
• Responsibilities regarding pain
• Adverse side effects of medications
• Symptoms that should be reported

Patients can help us manage their pain by:

• Communicating their pain rating goal
• Communicating when they are in pain
• Communicating how they feel about taking pain medication
• Asking what kind of pain they might expect to feel
• Calling their nurse before pain gets out of control
• Asking what options there are for relieving their pain