NUR 2030 Physical Assessment and Pain Management Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing key physical assessment concepts, types of pain, pain assessment scales, vital sign parameters, and age-related variations.

Somatic Pain

A type of nociceptive pain originating from bones, joints, muscles, deep musculoskeletal tissues, or body surfaces caused by trauma, pressure, or lack of $O_2$ to tissues, characterized as sharp and localized.

Visceral Pain

Pain originating from internal organs such as the gallbladder, pancreas, stomach, lungs, liver, or intestines (e.g., acute appendicitis, cholecystitis), described as vague, diffuse, dull, cramping, squeezing, or deep aching, often accompanied by ANS symptoms like nausea, vomiting, pallor, and diaphoresis.

Nociceptive Pain

A predictable type of pain resulting from tissue injury and nerve fiber stimulation, categorized into somatic and visceral pain, which typically responds well to opioids (such as morphine) and non-opioids (such as ibuprofen).

Neuropathic Pain

Pain caused by damage to nerve fibers from chronic diseases (like uncontrolled diabetes) or chemotherapy (such as vinca alkaloids); described as burning, shooting, stabbing, searing, numb, dead, and cold, and managed with adjuvant analgesics (antidepressants and anticonvulsants) rather than opioids.

PQRST Pain Assessment

A memory mnemonic for thorough pain assessment standing for P (Pain rating), Q (Quality), R (Region/Radiation), S (Severity), and T (Timing).

FLACC Pain Scale

A observational pain assessment tool used for children aged $0\text{-}3\text{ years}$ that evaluates Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability.

CRIES Pain Scale

A pain assessment scale utilized for post-operative, pre-term, and newborn infants evaluating Crying, Requires $O_2$ for baseline saturation, Increased vital signs, Expression, and Sleeplessness.

Wong-Baker FACES Scale

A pain assessment scale that utilizes a series of facial expressions to help patients report pain intensity.

Cutaneous Pain

Pain occurring right on the surface of the body that tends to be localized and can cause autonomic nervous system responses such as tachycardia, nausea, and hypotension.

Referred Pain

Pain that originates from a specific anatomical site but is felt in a different location on the body.

Fetal Pain Perception

The developmental point at which a fetus is physiologically capable of feeling pain, occurring at $20\text{ weeks}$ gestation.

Aging Adult Vital Sign Changes

Age-related physiological variations including increased risk for hypothermia, decreased likelihood of fever with illness, shallower respirations with an increased respiration rate, naturally elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure due to stiffening vessels, and orthostasis from medication effects.

Tachypnea

An elevated respiratory rate defined as greater than $25$ breaths per minute.

Bradypnea

A decreased respiratory rate defined as $8\text{-}12$ breaths per minute.

Normal Blood Pressure

A blood pressure reading defined as less than $120/80\text{ mmHg}$.

Hypotension

A low blood pressure reading defined as less than or equal to $90/60\text{ mmHg}$.

Indications for Manual Blood Pressure

The requirement to measure blood pressure manually rather than automatically when a patient has atrial fibrillation (A-fib), pulsus paradoxus, pulsus alternans, or pulsus bigeminus.

Orthostatic Hypotension

A drop in systolic blood pressure of $20\text{ mmHg}$ or a drop in diastolic blood pressure of $\top \neq \text{or } \neq 10\text{ mmHg}$ ($\neq \text{specifically } \neq \text{or } \neq \text{diastolic } \neq \text{drop } \neq \text{of } \neq 10\text{ mmHg}$; transcribed as drop in systolic pressure of $20\text{ mmHg}$ or diastolic pressure drop of $\neq 10\text{ mmHg}$ / drop of $\neq 10\text{ mmHg}$ after changing to standing position).

Pediatric Blood Pressure Initiation

The routine age at which blood pressure measurement begins during pediatric physical assessments, starting at $3\text{ years old}$.

Infant Vital Signs Assessment Sequence

The practice of ordering vital sign assessments from least irritating to most irritating in infants, always leaving temperature measurement for last.