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> Something different for every person I absolutely refuse to give a numerical answer unless they first give me an objective calibration for the numbers. I rec
by pdkl95 6y ago
> Something different for every person
I absolutely refuse to give a numerical answer unless they first give me an objective calibration for the numbers. I recently got into a minor argument with a nurse before a minor surgery. "If you won't tell me a number, how will I know if I need to give you a painkiller?" "If I'm in enough pain to need a painkiller, I will tell you."
The number scale attempts to turn a subjective interpretation into an "objective" value. Instead of having to actually listen to people and apply training and experience to judge which treatments are needed, the number system de facto pushes that decision onto the patient so the doctor/nurse/etc only needs to follow a simple set of treatment rules. Similar to black box "AI" used in e.g. criminal sentencing and employee evaluations, the numeric pain scale is yet another example of a fundamentally subjective situation being laundered into a supposedly "objective" value.
- ceejayoz 6y agoThere can be some utility in comparing over time. If the patient indicates a 9 before intervention, and a 5 afterwards, that means something's helping. The relative weight of a 9 versus someone else's 9 is irrelevant in this usage.
- LeifCarrotson 6y ago"The patient indicates" is still based on their completely subjective process of turning a mental state into a number. If they indicate a 9 before intervention, they did so by comparing the feeling of this this trauma to the fuzzy memory of breaking a bone as a child and the more recent but less painful memory of burning their finger in the kitchen a couple weeks ago. Then they sit and suffer from this trauma at approximately that same level of pain for the next 2 weeks, they'll have a new baseline to compare against. It really sucks that we have no objective measure of pain; a tricorder that you could aim at someone and get a number back would be infinitely better than what we have now.
- ceejayoz 6y agoI'm saying the 9, by itself, may not be useful, but the "it was a 9 an hour ago, and now it's a 5" may be.
- bluGill 6y agoNot really because people have a terrible memory for pain. It can be worse afterward and still be a 5 (vs 9) just because they have got used to the pain.