Pain as the Fifth Vital Sign: Exposing the Vital Need for Pain Education

How reliable is pain as the fifth vital sign?

BACKGROUND Although many health care organizations require routine pain screening (eg, "5th vital sign") with the 0 to 10 numeric rating scale (NRS), its accuracy has been questioned; here we evaluated its accuracy and potential causes for error. METHODS We randomly surveyed veterans and reviewed their charts after outpatient encounters at 2 hospitals and 6 affiliated community sites. Using c...

Acute Postoperative Pain in Trauma Patients - The Fifth Vital Sign

AIM To determine average pain intensity perceived by trauma patients at hospital admission, lowest and highest pain intensity during their hospitalisation and their satisfaction with provided pain treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS The research included 114 operated patients at the Clinical Department of Trauma Surgery. We used the standard Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) for a clinical measure of ...

The ‘fifth vital sign’

Pain is one of the most common symptoms, regardless of the specialty in which a patient is being treated. It should be routinely evaluated and recorded in daily clinical examination. In fact, pain has been promulgated as the ‘fifth vital sign’, in addition to the four traditional vital signs of temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. As well as improving patient comfort and sa...

Day surgery in the elderly: pain as fifth vital parameter

Background Pain control should be a subject of training in day surgery and specific updating courses for medical and nursing staff in the day hospital and in general for specialized personnel should be done. The ABC acronym may help to remember the fundamental points of pain treatment in day surgery: — assessment: systematic evaluation of pain as the 5th vital parameter; — balanced analgesia: p...

Pain as the fifth vital sign: will cultural variations be considered?