The nurse is assessing a terminally ill patient's current level of pain. The patient is able to talk and understands the nurse's assessment. Which of the following pain scales would be most appropriate for the nurse to use at this time?

Question

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With a patient capable of verbalizing his or her pain level, the nurse should use a scale from 0 to 10, with zero indicating the absence of pain and 10 indicating the worst pain possible. Other commonly used pain intensity scales such as The Wong-Baker scale, which uses faces, words and numbers, and the Pritchett and Hull scale, which has faces for each of the numbers 1 through10, would not be appropriate for the patient at this time, since he is able to talk and to understand the nurse's assessment. There is no pain scale called the percentage scale.

The Nurse Is Assessing a Terminally Ill Patient's Current Level