Drake Center: Specialized Medical & Rehabilitative Care

 

Patient & Family Handbook

• Your Admission
• Our Approach to
  Your Care
• Preparing for
  Your Stay
• Support for
  You & Your Family
• Managing Your Pain
• Specialized Patient Services
• Preparing for
  Your Discharge
• After Your Discharge

Managing Your Pain

Everyone feels and reacts to pain in a different way. Pain is an individual and common experience. People of every age and culture experience pain.

Pain has physical, emotional, social, and spiritual components. How you feel pain can depend on your culture, your family, your past experiences, and how worried you are about what is causing your pain.

When you are admitted to Drake Center, the nurse will ask you to describe the level of pain you are having. Use one of the three scales below to help your nurses, doctors, and therapists understand how you are feeling.

Pain rating scales

Verbal

Non-verbal

Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale*

*From Wong DL, Hockenberry-Eaton M, Wilson D, Winkelstein ML, Ahmann E, DiVito-Thomas PA: Whaley and Wong’s Nursing Care of Infants and Children, ed. 6, St. Louis, 1999, Mosby, p. 1153. Copyrighted by Mosby-Year Book, Inc. Reprinted by permission.

Non-communicative

This scale lists examples of behaviors a patient might show. Since not everyone is alike, the pain scale may need to be modified to reflect certain behaviors of individual patients.

Working with you to manage your pain

During your stay at Drake Center, the doctors, nurses, and therapists will ask about your pain level. They will ask if your pain prevents you from doing therapeutic activities.

You will be asked to describe the location of the pain and how it feels. Use the following words to explain your pain:

Type of pain

• Incisional (at a surgical site)
• Throbbing
• Aching
• Cramping
• Burning
• Sharp
• Dull
• Pressure
• Radiating
• Shooting
• Like pins and needles

Duration of pain

• Intermittent (comes and goes)
• Continuous

Pattern of pain

• Increases with movement
• Decreases with movement
• Increases at rest
• Decreases at rest

Pain relief techniques

• Place a pillow where your body hurts. The pillow provides support to the painful area.
• Use cold or warm packs to ease your pain.
• Breathe in and out slowly to relax muscles when you get in and out of bed. Take a breath through your nose before you move, then breathe out slowly through your mouth as you move or change position.
• Listen to favorite tapes or CDs.
• Relax tight muscles with the help of massage therapy.
• Talk with someone — family, friends, volunteers, or chaplain.

Pharmacological pain relief methods

Pain medication works best when used in conjunction with the pain relief techniques described in the preceding section. Taking your medication when the pain starts makes it easier to manage. If you wait too long before taking something for pain, the medicine may not be able to "catch up" with your pain. Many types of medications are used for pain, and they all work differently. There is no "best" pain medicine, because each person has specific needs. Talk with your doctor about the medicine prescribed for your pain. Let the doctor know how well the medicine works and how long it lasts.