Getting Started: A Dialogue with Your Patient About Pain
Developing open lines of communication with your patient is critical to achieving successful treatment outcomes and breaking down communication barriers. Research has shown that simply acknowledging your patient's pain can have profound therapeutic results. View our featured videos to learn tips from healthcare professionals who have been successful in reaching positive outcomes for their patients through communication.
Listen to Dr. Cherrick discuss dialogue and connecting with patients.
> Click here to download a list of questions
In his book Listening to Pain, Dr. Scott Fishman, Chair and President of the American Pain Foundation, and Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of California at Davis, recommends asking the following questions as part of the initial patient assessment:
- Where is the location of your pain?
- What is the character of your pain?
- How and when did the pain start?
- Is the pain continuous or intermittent?
- What are the exacerbating and relieving factors of your pain? What makes it feel better or worse, including medication, rest, activity, stress, sleep or hot showers?
- What is the effect of stress on your pain, as well as the source of stressors?
- Any sleep disturbances?
- Any ongoing medical concerns?
- How does pain affect functioning at school or work?
- How does pain affect quality of life functions, such as relationships, sex or recreation?
- What does the patient expect from medications or other treatments in terms of analgesia or recovered functions?
Watch Dr. Fishman discuss the importance of listening to patients.
