The pain charts

I have recently started my merging into Dundee Medical School as there is where I'll go for my clinical years of training.

Of course, being that Tuesday was our first day of the programme and I wanted to be prepared for whatever I would need to face, I thought to look up some of the clinical skills that we have been taught at St Andrews.

Communication skills are, in my opinion, the most important skills you'll ever learn in medicine. You can be a fantastic doctor but if you're not able to communicate properly with the patient all of your science is pointless.

One of the aspects of the communication with the patients that we have to get right and that we are practically brain-washed about is pain.

How do you describe it?
Does it radiate?
What type of pain is it?
Does anything make it better? Or worse?

What brings it on?

Is it continuous? or it comes and goes?
And most of all... can you rate it???

Oh dear... how do you rate pain???
Because if you ask someone like me whose pain threshold is non existent I'll tell you that if you shake my hand too sternly I'm in agony!

But you can ask my brother, who plays basketball with a probably broken finger, he doesn't really complain!

So let's say that pain is definitely subjective.

Doctors have several ways of trying to get out of the patient some sort of pain score and one of my favourites is the pain chart with little faces expressing their degree of discomfort.

So, here I give you the NHS pain chart!

I have 2 main problems with that:

1- Where are the odd numbers? I mean, what if my pain was #7... It doesn't "hurt a whole lot" but "hurting even more" doesn't exactly cut it!

2- Why is #2 smiling?!?!!

So I looked up on internet and researched if there was anything a bit more appropriate.

Maybe we could learn from other countries and see if they had something dare I say "less condescending"?!?

Well, obviously someone had thought pretty much the same thing as I did and designed its own pain chart... Now, this is what I call descriptive!

Have a look and please do tell me if you wouldn't think your feelings of pain to be better expressed by these images!

I commend the creator and had fun matching my own version of the pain scores to the number.

0- Hi, I'm not experiencing any pain at all, I don't even know why I'm here!
1- I am completely unsure whether I'm experiencing pain, or itching or maybe I just have a bad taste in my mouth
2- I think I may need a plaster

3- This is distressing, I don't want this to be happening to me at all

4- My pain is not messing around man!
5- Ow...ok, my pain is super legit now!
6-Why me???!!!
7- I see a green monster coming towards me and I'm bricking it!

8- I am experiencing a disturbing amount of pain... I might actually be dying, help!
9- I am almost definitely dying

10- I am actively being mauled by the green monster I saw at #7
11- I am going to auto destroy at any moment
Too serious for numbers - any comment coming out of the patient's mouth would be most definitely censored!

Of course this chart is meant for fun only but nonetheless, I consider it a possible great addition to the doctor's tools... if anything, it might improve that oh-so-vital relationship with the patient by means of conjuring a smile on both sides!