Attempt to obtain the patient's self-report, the single most reliable indicator of pain. Do not assume that a patient cannot report pain; many cognitively impaired patients are able to use a ...

"It's really sore," my (Josh's) five-year-old daughter said, cradling her broken arm in the emergency department. "But on a scale of 0 to 10, how do you rate your pain?" asked the nurse. My daughter's ...

Likert scales are widely used in the medical and mental health systems, as they are a useful tool for rating everything from mood to pain levels. For autistic people, however, Likert scales can be ...

Over the past two years, a simple but baffling request has preceded most of my encounters with medical professionals: “Rate your pain on a scale of zero to 10.” I trained as a physician and have asked ...