Learn the OPQRST mnemonic for assessing patient pain: Onset, Provocation/Palliation, Quality, Region/Radiation, Severity, and Timing. The video walks through specific questions nurses should ask to gather complete pain information during patient shifts.
Hey friend. In this video we are going to talk about the nursing pain assessment. We'll walk through six key points for the nursing pain assessment so you will always know what questions to ask your patient. Plus I will give you a handy dandy mnemonic so you won't forget it. Now, before we get started, make sure that you hit the subscribe button and click that little bell icon so you don't miss out on a future video video to help you succeed in nursing school. Now let's do this. Alrighty. So pain is a super important thing to assess, right? Obviously we want to keep our patient comfortable, but it can also tell us a whole lot about what's going on with their condition. So it's really, really important that you always assess their pain when you come go in to assess your patient for the first time during your shift. And also you'll want to assess their pain throughout the shift. Oftentimes their condition will change throughout the day or night, so you should always be assessing them. And thankfully there is a handy mnemonic for the nursing pain assessment that will help you remember all of the questions that you need to ask when you're assessing a patient's pain. So that makes it super easy. I've also got a free cheat sheet for you that you can download which with this mnemonic on it and with the questions as well. So it's all there for you. So make sure to download that at the end of this video. I'll put a link in the description below. So the nursing pain assessment mnemonic is OPQRST and it stands for onset, provocation or palliation, Quality, region or radiation, severity and timing. I know that those sound like some big scary words, so let's dive into each one of them to explain them. Alright? So onset means that what was going on when the pain began? So what was the patient doing? And was it sudden or was it more gradual process with how the pain started? So you'll ask these questions to your patient. What were you doing when the pain began or when it started? And did it happen pretty suddenly or had it been going on for a while? Now the P in opqrst stands for provocation or palliation. Provocation means what provokes the pain and palliation means what makes it better. So the two questions that you should ask in this category are what makes the pain worse and what makes the pain better. Now the Q stands for quality and here you will have your patient just describe the pain, meaning what is the quality of their pain? Is it dull? Is it stabbing, burning sharp or tingling? Is it throbbing, tearing, or is it something? All of these words help describe the quality of the pain. So a good question that you can ask here is can you describe the pain for me? Now, the R in opqrst stands for region or radiation. Region meaning what area of the body is the pain occurring? And radiation meaning is it radiating to anywhere else? So for example, is the pain starting maybe in the foot, radiating up the leg or, or maybe starting in the shoulder and radiating down the back? So things like that. So for this one you'll need to ask where is the pain located and is it spreading or is it extending to another area? Now, the S stands for severity. And here you'll usually have the patient rate the pain on a scale of 0 to 10. So I like to ask on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain at all and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, or where is your pain level at right now? You can also switch this up and ask this question based on what their pain level is at when the pain started, as well as where it was an hour ago or a day ago or whatever time frame kind of makes sense for what's going on with them. And finally, the T in OPQRST stands for timing. And I consider timing to mean a few different things. So what were they doing at the time the pain started? Meaning the onset of the pain. What, what was the timing of the pain itself? Is it always there? Does it come and go, things like that? How has it changed over time? Is there anything different about it now than when it started? And has it happened before in the past? So that is the nursing pain assessment, opqrst, onset, provocation or palliation, quality, region or radiation, severity and timing. Now friend, don't forget to download your free pain nursing assess cheat sheet that I've got for you. I'll add a link to the description below this video so you can check that out. And of course, do not forget to subscribe and hit that bell icon so you always get notified of any of the new videos that we post here on the Nursing School show. Thank you so much for watching, friend. Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be and I will see you right back here next time on the Nursing School show. Take care.
