Pain and Pain Management

At Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals, we are dedicated to every aspect of your care.

Pain management is a widespread concern for patients and their families. We hope this information will help you better understand how pain works and how you can best communicate your level of pain to your health care team.

What is Pain?

Simply put, pain is an undesired feeling caused by an injury or illness.

Pain is individual.
Pain is equal to one’s perception of the pain.

Types of Pain

There are two major categories of pain: acute pain and chronic pain.

Acute pain:

Lasts a short period of time.
Usually has a cause that can be identified.
Goes away with treatment or as the body heals itself.

Chronic pain:

Lasts a long period of time—typically longer than three to six months.
Often has no cause that can be identified.

How Our Body Perceives Pain

Our body perceives pain by first recognizing an illness or injury. The body then sends a pain message to the brain. This pain message causes you to feel pain or discomfort. The body then uses its own resources to reduce the pain.

We Want to Help You

At Providence, we know our patients have pain for various reasons. We will ask you often about your comfort level. That’s because we want to help you manage your pain and prevent you from getting uncomfortable.
Often, a change in your comfort level will signal to us that your condition is changing.

Using Words to Describe Your Pain

We will ask you often to describe your pain in words. Sometimes this may be difficult for you
to do. Here are some words that may help.

Sharp Pinching
Dull Burning
Radiating Stabbing
Throbbing Pounding
Shooting Annoying
Spreading Gnawing
Tight Tender

How to Communicate Your Comfort Level

Please help us understand if you are having a lot of pain, if you are having no pain or if your pain is
somewhere in between.

We use two tools to help our patients communicate their pain level — the pain scale and the Wong-
Baker Faces. We often use the Wong-Baker Faces tool with pediatric patients.

The Pain Scale: We will ask you to rate your pain on a scale of zero to 10. Zero equals no pain, and 10
equals the worst pain you have ever had.

The Wong-Baker Faces: We will ask you to point to one of the following pictures to describe your
pain.

Help Us Understand Your Pain

We will ask you several questions to help create a plan for your pain management.

When did you start having pain?
Where do you feel pain?
Does the pain move from one place to another?
What causes your pain?
What helps relieve your pain?
When do you have pain?
What makes your pain worse?
Does your pain limit any of your regular activities?
Does your pain interrupt your sleep?
Does your pain change your mood?
Does your pain affect your appetite?

To Treat Your Pain Effectively, Please Tell Us:

As soon as your pain begins.
How your pain medicine is working.
If you begin to have a new or different type of pain.
What kind of pain you are having.