Is prehospital paramedic pain assessment effective - Essay Example

This paper was able to establish that pain assessment is favoured by some practitioners because it can reduce the patient’s trauma and anxiety, making him more relaxed and easier to assess for other symptoms. Pain assessment is not favoured by some practitioners because it is often inaccurate. It is also subjective, depending on the paramedic’s assessment of the patient. Some patients may not verbalize their pain, and others may exaggerate their pain experience. Nevertheless, pain assessment in the prehospital setting can be made on a case- to-case basis, depending on the physical environment, on the condition of the patient, and on the other symptoms being manifested by the patient.

The paramedic responding to an emergency may find the patient in varying states of pain, consciousness, and anxiety. The paramedic is obligated to render emergency care to such patient; such care primarily includes interventions to assess and ease the airway, breathing, and circulation of the patient. Pain assessment during this time is still a controversial matter. While some practitioners believe that pain assessment during the prehospital setting is appropriate and ultimately beneficial to the patient, others do not agree.

Opponents to pain assessment in the prehospital setting believe that such assessment will only cause delay in the care of the patient, and the process will ultimately yield inaccurate results. This paper shall address and review this controversy by assessing studies and reports written on the subject matter. Such studies shall be searched through index searches in library materials (books, magazines, and journals). Key words such as paramedic, pain assessment, and prehospital shall be used in the index search.

The same key words shall also be entered through internet browsing using the Google search engine. The NCBI, Medscape, BMJ, NHS, DOH, NICE, and such other relevant databases shall also be searched in the hope of uncovering relevant