During your hospitalization, you may experience pain either after surgery or during the course of your treatment or illness. Your caregivers have been trained to assess your pain at the time of hospital admission and regularly during your stay.    If you do experience pain, a pain-rating scale is posted in each patient room to help your caregivers obtain an accurate pain rating. You will be asked to rate your pain on a 0-10 scale, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain you can imagine. If you cannot relate to these numbers, use colors or words to describe your pain so it accurately tells your caregiver what you are feeling. Your caregiver will take

a detailed pain history to establish the duration of the pain and what has helped manage your pain in the past. 

Communication is an essential component of pain management. You must give an accurate and honest assessment of pain. If your caregivers do not know you are in pain, they cannot treat it. If you have pain and receive treatment such as a pain medication or ice pack, you should expect to be asked again about your pain level within 60 - 90 minutes. If you are not asked, call your nurse, especially if the pain is not better, and request that your physician be contacted. Your care team will meet to consider alternative treatments if your pain score is not lowered to an acceptable level after two attempts in a 24-hour period. 

Again, communication between the caregiver and patient is essential. By working with your health-care team, you can set a workable goal for controlling your pain and letting them know when you need better pain management. We will do all we can to help reduce your pain and make your recovery comfortable.

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