A nursing assistant (NA) reports to the nurse that a postsurgical patient is complaining of pain that she rates as an eight on a ten-point scale

Question

The NA tells the nurse that he thinks the patient is exaggerating and does not need pain medication. What is the nurse's best response?
A) "Pain often comes and goes with postsurgical patients. Please ask her about pain again in about 30 minutes."
B) "We need to provide pain medications because it is the law, and we must always follow the law."
C) "Professionally, I believe 'pain is whatever the patient says it is.'"
D) "Patients often misreport pain 'to get our attention when we are busy.'"

Answer 1

Ans: C
Feedback: A broad definition of pain is "whatever the person says it is, existing whenever the experiencing person says it does." We treat pain when the patient report is above an acceptable limit based on a pain scale, which usually is three on a ten-point scale. Pain is always included as a part of any assessment and, therefore, needs to be verified by the nurse. Option A is incorrect; pain that is eight on a ten-point scale needs to be treated. Option B is incorrect; providing pain relief is not a law, but failure to provide pain relief could be considered abusive treatment. Option D is incorrect; nurses who believe that patients "often misreport pain to get our attention when we are busy" are misinformed.