Here are a variety of tools to help you manage your patients’ pain. You’ll find assessments, as well as forms that you can easily customize for your practice. We’ve provided various options, so you can choose the ones that you prefer. PeaceHealth Laboratories does not endorse any specific form; we are simply providing convenient links for you.

Basically, there are five steps to pain management:

• Understand how to manage pain
• Assess the patient’s pain
• Talk with the patient about your assessment
• Keep an up-to-date chart
• Monitor for compliance

Use the the links above to navigate to each of the five steps of pain management

Understand how to manage pain

Patients in pain can be challenging. That’s why taking time to understand how to manage pain can be helpful to you, as you seek to serve your patients and improve the quality of their lives. Here’s some helpful resources:

• The Use of Opioids for the Treatment of Common Pain
• Promoting Pain Relief and Preventing Abuse of Pain Medications: A Critical Balancing Act

Assess the patient’s pain

Determine if the patient suffers from chronic pain and would benefit from an opioid pain management treatment.

• Target Chronic Pain Notebook
  The Pain Notebook is an easy-to-use tool to help you maintain a record of your pain and communicate your experiences. It’s an extremely useful tool when discussing levels of pain, response to treatment and improvements in functioning and side effects. Courtesy of the American Pain Foundation.
• Pain Thermometer Scale
  This pain assessment tool facilitates the communication of pain severity especially in older patients and those with diminished cognitive capacity and difficulty with abstract thinking. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Wong-Baker FACES
  A visual analog scale to assess pain in pediatric patients.
• Brief Pain Inventory
  Assesses the severity of pain and the impact of pain on daily functions.
• World Health Organization’s Pain Ladder
  WHO has developed a three-step “ladder” for cancer pain relief.

Talk with the patient

There are several tools to guide you in this discussion. You can also download patient education materials.

• CAGE Questionnaire
  Used in Identifying Alcoholism
• Current Opioid Misuse Measure (COMM)
  Helps clinicians identify whether a patient, currently on long-term opioid therapy, may be exhibiting aberrant behaviors associated with misuse of opioid medications. (Free Registration Required)
• Opioid Risk Tool
  A brief, easy-to-use screening tool, which is administered during the initial clinical visit, enables the physician to determine a patient’s potential risk for developing aberrant behaviors when prescribed opioids for chronic pain. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Screener & Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain (SOAPP)
  A brief paper and pencil tool to facilitate assessment and planning for chronic pain patients being considered for long-term opioid treatment. (Free Registration Required)
• Opioid Facts
  Printable patient-education handout. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Pain Facts
  Printable patient-education handout. Courtesy of painknowledge.org

Keep a current chart

• Patient Reassessment Opioid Analgesic 4-A’s+ Chart Note
  The 4-A’s+ Chart Note is a brief, easy-to-use tool for assessing patients taking opioids. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Medication Flow Chart
  Used to keep track of a patient’s prescribed medications. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Informed Consent
  Verify that the patient understands the risks and benefits of using opioids. Courtesy of painknowledge.org
• Opioid Agreement Template
  Patient agreement concerning opioid treatment
• Exit strategy guide
  If the pain management plan for a patient must be discontinued, an exit strategy should be established. Courtesy of painknowledge.org

Monitor for compliance

Promoting pain relief and preventing abuse of pain medications is a critical balancing act for clinicians. PtProtect provides an important tool to help ensure that prescription pain medications are available to the patients who need them while preventing drugs from becoming a source of harm or abuse.