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.