I’m not a doctor, nor do I carry any professional credentials, not the slightest. However, I am a stay-at-home, full-time, primary caregiver to two children. As such, I’ve developed certain techniques that work for me. I thought I’d share one; maybe you’ll find it useful. If not, hey, maybe it didn’t take that long to read this column and you didn’t waste *too* much time. :-O
When I bring my kids to the doctor, a standard physician strategy is the pain evaluation scale - The doctor asks the patient, “On a scale of one to ten, how bad does it hurt?” You may be familiar with this diagnostic strategy, as it’s widely used.
I find the scale to be intimidating and not as accurate as it could be. So I made a slight change, and it seems to have sharply increased my diagnostic efficiency. The change? I simply went from a scale of 1-10 to a scale of 1-20.
For some reason, my kids seem to find a choice of 20 numbers far less daunting. So when they come to me with a perceived serious pain or injury, if I can’t immediately create a diagnosis and appropriate treatment, I present the child with the pain scale question, except I use one through 20. I used to use 1-10, but it would muddy the accuracy of their response, as it created doubt, because it’s not overly obvious where the pain goes from 6 to 7 or whatever. But 20, boy howdy, I can see them relax and then easily concentrate on providing an accurate description.
And, therefore, because the kids have an easier, more relaxed method of being accurate, it actually gives me a more precise sense of their level of pain, and, therefore, a more acute idea as to a treatment path.
Lastly, it seems to involve them in a more respected way, as there’s less tension, and I’m using what appears to be a grown-up tool. So they seem to feel better/safer/respected/loved. That’s never a bad thing.
As per any other advice I may dispense, your mileage may vary, so proceed with caution. Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.
by Stu Mark
Photo graciously provided by happysnappr, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
1 response so far ↓
Lisa D. // Aug 26, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I’ve really never understood the whole pain scale thing. When doctors ask me, I always give them a number, but follow it up with “but I’ve been through labor and hit by a truck– so maybe my 10 is an extreme.”
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