Acute Pain Nursing Care Plan
Common Signs and Symptoms of Acute
Pain
The following are the common manifestations of acute pain. Use these subjective and objective
data to help guide you through the nursing assessment. Alternatively, you can check out the
assessment guide for acute pain in the subsequent sections.
● The most common characteristic of acute pain is when the patient reports or
complaints about it. It is also the most common chief complaint that brings patients to
their health care providers.
○ Self-report of intensity using standardized pain intensity scales (e.g.,
Wong-Baker FACES scale, visual analog scale, numeric rating scale)
○ Self-report of pain characteristics (e.g., aching, burning, electric shock,
pins, and needles, shooting, sore/tender, stabbing, throbbing) using
standardized pain scales (e.g., McGill Pain Questionnaire, Brief Pain
Inventory)
● Other signs of pain include:
○ Guarding behavior or protecting the body part
○ Facial mask of pain (e.g., grimaces)
○ Expression of pain (e.g., restlessness, crying, moaning)
● Autonomic response to pain:
○ Profuse sweating
○ Alteration in BP, HR, RR
○ Dilation of the pupils
● Proxy reporting pain and behavior/activity changes (e.g., family members,
caregivers)
Patient Goals for Acute Pain
The following are the common nursing care planning goals and expected outcomes for Acute
Pain:
● Patient demonstrates the use of appropriate diversional activities and relaxation
skills.
● Patient describes satisfactory pain control at a level (for example, less than 3 to 4 on
a rating scale of 0 to 10)
, ● Patients display improved well-being such as baseline levels for pulse, BP,
respirations, and relaxed muscle tone or body posture.
● Patients use pharmacological and nonpharmacological pain-relief strategies.
● Patient displays improvement in mood, coping.
Related Nursing Care Plans for Acute Pain
Diseases, medical conditions, and related nursing care plans for Acute Pain nursing diagnosis:
● Surgery (Perioperative Client
● Brain tumor
● Fracture
● Hypertension
● tonsillitis
Acute Pain Nursing Assessment
Proper nursing assessment of Acute Pain is imperative for the development of an effective pain
management plan. Nurses play a crucial role in the assessment of pain, use these techniques on
how to assess acute pain:
1. Perform a comprehensive assessment of pain. Determine the location, characteristics,
onset, duration, frequency, quality, and severity of pain via assessment.
The patient experiencing pain is the most reliable source of information about their pain. Their
self-report on pain is the gold standard in pain assessment as they can describe the location,
intensity, and duration. Thus, assessment of pain by conducting an interview helps the nurse in
planning optimal pain management strategies.
Alternatively, you can use the nursing mnemonic “PQRST” to guide you during pain assessment:
● Provoking Factors: “What makes your pain better or worse?”
● Quality (characteristic): “Tell me what it’s exactly like. Is it a sharp pain, throbbing
pain, dull pain, stabbing, etc?”
● Region (location): “Show me where your pain is.”
● Severity: Ask your pain to rate pain by using different pain rating methods (e.g., Pain
scale of 1-10, Wong-Baker Faces Scale).
Common Signs and Symptoms of Acute
Pain
The following are the common manifestations of acute pain. Use these subjective and objective
data to help guide you through the nursing assessment. Alternatively, you can check out the
assessment guide for acute pain in the subsequent sections.
● The most common characteristic of acute pain is when the patient reports or
complaints about it. It is also the most common chief complaint that brings patients to
their health care providers.
○ Self-report of intensity using standardized pain intensity scales (e.g.,
Wong-Baker FACES scale, visual analog scale, numeric rating scale)
○ Self-report of pain characteristics (e.g., aching, burning, electric shock,
pins, and needles, shooting, sore/tender, stabbing, throbbing) using
standardized pain scales (e.g., McGill Pain Questionnaire, Brief Pain
Inventory)
● Other signs of pain include:
○ Guarding behavior or protecting the body part
○ Facial mask of pain (e.g., grimaces)
○ Expression of pain (e.g., restlessness, crying, moaning)
● Autonomic response to pain:
○ Profuse sweating
○ Alteration in BP, HR, RR
○ Dilation of the pupils
● Proxy reporting pain and behavior/activity changes (e.g., family members,
caregivers)
Patient Goals for Acute Pain
The following are the common nursing care planning goals and expected outcomes for Acute
Pain:
● Patient demonstrates the use of appropriate diversional activities and relaxation
skills.
● Patient describes satisfactory pain control at a level (for example, less than 3 to 4 on
a rating scale of 0 to 10)
, ● Patients display improved well-being such as baseline levels for pulse, BP,
respirations, and relaxed muscle tone or body posture.
● Patients use pharmacological and nonpharmacological pain-relief strategies.
● Patient displays improvement in mood, coping.
Related Nursing Care Plans for Acute Pain
Diseases, medical conditions, and related nursing care plans for Acute Pain nursing diagnosis:
● Surgery (Perioperative Client
● Brain tumor
● Fracture
● Hypertension
● tonsillitis
Acute Pain Nursing Assessment
Proper nursing assessment of Acute Pain is imperative for the development of an effective pain
management plan. Nurses play a crucial role in the assessment of pain, use these techniques on
how to assess acute pain:
1. Perform a comprehensive assessment of pain. Determine the location, characteristics,
onset, duration, frequency, quality, and severity of pain via assessment.
The patient experiencing pain is the most reliable source of information about their pain. Their
self-report on pain is the gold standard in pain assessment as they can describe the location,
intensity, and duration. Thus, assessment of pain by conducting an interview helps the nurse in
planning optimal pain management strategies.
Alternatively, you can use the nursing mnemonic “PQRST” to guide you during pain assessment:
● Provoking Factors: “What makes your pain better or worse?”
● Quality (characteristic): “Tell me what it’s exactly like. Is it a sharp pain, throbbing
pain, dull pain, stabbing, etc?”
● Region (location): “Show me where your pain is.”
● Severity: Ask your pain to rate pain by using different pain rating methods (e.g., Pain
scale of 1-10, Wong-Baker Faces Scale).
