PAIN ouh PAIN

PAIN..PAIN and PAIN!!!

Im sure all of us have got pain even once. From headache 2 backpain..there are so many types of pain medically. For a physician, in assessing the pain of the patient some of us(future MBBS holder insyaAllah ) might misdiagnose the patients illness just because we cant take history properly. One of the general complain that we have in clinic hour is pain. Some makcik came to us and say about her backpain, some other pakcik also came and complaining about the pain at the same region. One Q usually arise..is the 2 pain are the same???

So, in order to easily understand the pain, there is one international acronym called SOCRATES used to assess the pain. So, what is SOCRATES is all about? Lets check it out!

S	Site	We need to ask the patient, where do the pain came from? At what area of the body do it originate?
O	Onset of time	Ask them, at what time do the pain start or arise? Does it only came in certain duration of time? Do it start sharply at one particular time?
C	Characteristic	Is it aching, throbbing, burning or stabbing pain?
R	Radiation	Do the pain radiate to any other parts of the body?
A	Association	Any other signs or symptoms that might be associated with the pain?
T	Time	How long the pain had take place? Do it come and go or it persist? (in case of chronic pain)
E	Exacerbating factors	What action that make the pain releaved? Is the pain become less if the patient sitting/lying down/exercising? Do the pain become mild when the person take drugs?
S	Severity	From pain scale 1 to 10 and 10 is the worst, how much do the patient will describe his/her pain?

So now, even u're not a medical people, u can assess your pain by this mnemonic!

Before I end, there is one famous quotes from socrates to share with u guys that says;

"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing"

TQ for reading and c u again :)