ABSTRACT
Effective and safe management of acute pain is best achieved by tailoring pain therapies to the individual patient. Pain is a very individual and subjective experience. There are many behavioral, psychological, and social factors that may increase or decrease the patient’s response to, and report of, pain. In adults, three common self-report measures of pain intensity are the visual analog scale, the verbal numerical rating scale and the verbal descriptor scale. Verbal descriptor or verbal rating scales use different words to rate the severity of pain, such as none, mild, moderate, severe, and excruciating. These scales are quick and easy to use and may be more reliable in some patients. Assessments of patient satisfaction are often used as an indicator of “good” or “bad” pain relief. However, they are really more a measure of the patient’s overall satisfaction with their treatment.
