Cicely on Assessing Pain

The concept of total pain

The pain is real

Importance of assessment

Cicely on Assessing Pain

Dr. Saunders founded the modern hospice movement in the early 1960's, and her program at St. Christopher's paved the way for effective pain relief for those with cancer.

I didn't think we should make too much difficulty about believing what people say. I think the simplest and probably the best definition of pain is pain is what the patient says hurts. I think that they may be expressing a very multi-faceted thing. They may have physical, psychological, family, social and spiritual things all wound up in this one whole experience. But I think we should believe people and once you believe somebody you can begin to understand, and perhaps tease out out the various elements that are making up that pain. But it may be simplism there. It may be a perfectly straightforward pain in something that has gone wrong and can be dealt with and we should not, perhaps, make it too complicated. And just deal. So it means just listening and analyzing what they are talking about.


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