A word of advice: if you're asked to rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10, choose a number between 1 and 10. 11 is not between 1 and 10. Neither is 15. I know you're trying to communicate to me the urgency of your headache. I know you're trying to impress upon me just how bad it hurts. But in reality, it's all I can do to not roll my eyes at you (or stab this 18-gauge needle into your leg and ask you where your pain is now...between 1 and 10). And the triage nurse, the registration clerk, the tech, and everyone else who treats you are all thinking the same thing.
Forgive what I'm sure you'll perceive as a lack of compassion, but every day we see people with severed limbs, broken femurs, or jagged rocks passing through their urinary tract, who all manage to pick a number between 1 and 10. And they rarely pick 10.
Oh...and it helps if we don't have to wake you up to pick your number.
I hate the pain scale.
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3 comments:
Amen.
The Pain Scale makes me crazy.
Your hangnail is not a 10, jackass.
Agreed.
I love it when their pain is 10/10 yet they scream when I do a finger stick.
Morons.
or stab this 18-gauge needle into your leg and ask you where your pain is now...between 1 and 10
LMAO!
I JUST had this same conversation with a patient today. I was actually joking with a 16 year-old kid who was pretty cool and interested in medicine. His comment to me was
"Nah, I really don't mind needles to much, I'm ok with them and pain."
I proceeded to crap my pants in shock. After changing and returning to the room, he again reiterated that it really didn't bother him too much. He still asked that I numb him up before I put in my sutures. I think he actually thought I might give him a piece of bark to bite on while I sutured him up. I proceeded to use lidocaine for his small lac, and sewed him up without a peep. Not a sound other than a fun conversation with a cool kid.
It is sometimes so odd when you get a person who is normal.
-slicy
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