|
|
CHARACTERISTICS
Determine:
- What feelings
or sensations (qualities) are associated with the symptom(s) while
they are going on? (Encourage the use of adjectives!)
- What is
the quantity of discomfort or pain? Ask the patient to use a 1
to 10 scale to describe pain right now, at its worst, at its least.
(1 is annoying but not really painful and 10 = the worst pain
imaginable.)
- If relevant,
what were the immediate symptoms at the time of injury? (For example,
an immediate pop when a knee is twisted can signal a cruciate
ligament injury.)
Examples:
- There is
a constant, sharp, stabbing pain in the middle of my left chest.
It radiates to my jaw, and down the left arm.
- Right now,
the chest pain is a 9. If it were a 10, my heart would burst!
- I was snow
skiing in powder. Somehow the tips of my skis got tangled and
I fell hard. I could feel my knee pop, and it started swelling
right away.
|
|
|
|