Pain - ways to determine the intensity and the choice of the appropriate form of treatment

Abstract

Introduction and purpose of the study: The problem of pain occurs in many patients, and its perception is a subjective aspect. This is a big problem because it negatively affects not only the patient's health but also many aspects of his life: physical activity, social relations, mental and emotional state. Physicians of many specialties face the problem of treatment both in doctor's offices and in hospital rooms. The choice of the appropriate form of therapy can be facilitated by scales and pain assessment questionnaires. This paper presents ways to determine the severity of pain that can be used in contact with both children and the elderly. Proper determination of the degree of pain intensity enables the selection of the appropriate threshold of the analgesic ladder.

Materials and methods: The review was based on the analysis of materials collected in the "PubMed" database and WHO guidelines. The work uses the latest scientific works, review articles. The search was carried out using the keywords: "pain management", "analgesic ladder", "pain management scales", "pain management questionnaires", "neuropathic pain", "opioids".

Summary: Treatment is a big challenge because each patient feels pain differently, which means that each patient must be approached individually. In order to facilitate and systematize the treatment to some extent and, above all, to choose the best therapeutic method for the patient, pain scales and questionnaires should be used to assess pain intensity and observe the results of the treatment. The variety of methods of imaging the pain intensity scale allows us to choose the most appropriate one for a given patient, depending on his cognitive abilities and age. The choice of treatment method should be based on the analgesic ladder. It is necessary to take into account both the patient's condition, his diseases, treatment and side effects of the introduced treatment.