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Listen to the audio of these terms:

ache
I’ve got a lot of aches.
It aches a lot.
analgesia
capsule
drug chart
It hurts a lot
injection
PCA
patient controlled analgesia
pain
I’m in pain.
It’s painful
pain scale
painkillers
rate your pain
suppository
tablet

Lesson 5: Talking about pain

Read the text about pain

 

Describing pain

There are many different ways to describe pain.
1. Pain
usually means a sharp pain.
also makes compound words like:
     back pain    shoulder pain              hip pain
You say: I’ve got a pain in my stomach / hip / knee.
You say: It’s very painful.     

2. Ache
usually means a dull pain
a few expressions which must use ache:   toothache                  stomach ache              earache            headache
there is also a fixed expression aches and pains e.g. I’ve got a lot of aches and pains
 

3. It hurts
you can use hurt to mean general ache or pain e.g. My toe hurts a lot.
                       

 

Where does it hurt?
 

Activity 1: Complete these sentences using the verbs below.

 

painful       back pain     hurts      aches          sharp    stomach ache

 

  1. I fell over. My knee ____________a lot now.
     

  2. I have arthritis. My knee ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____________a bit in the mornings.
     

  3. I have an infected toe. It’s very ___________ especially when I stand up.
     

  4. I think I ate something that was bad. Now I have a bad _____________.
     

  5. I had a car accident last year. Most of the time I have severe ________________and my hip aches a lot.
     

  6. I get a ____________  pain in my right shoulder when I try to lift my arm. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read the text and complete activity 2:
 

Pain scales

There are three main pain scales that are used by patients to tell nurses about their pain. These are:

  • PIPP or  Premature Infant Pain Profile  - nurses look at the expression on the baby’s face and whether the baby is crying.
     

  • Wong-Baker Faces – this scale is often used by children who can pick a face which shows what their pain is like.

  • The Numerical scale – patients pick a number from 0 (no pain) to 10 ( the worst pain you can imagine)

 

Activity 2:

Match the numbers to the correct pictures:
1 = PIPP           2 = Wong-Baker Faces                        3 = Numerical Pain scale

Number __________

Number _________________-

Number _________________________

Activity 3:  Match the questions about pain with their answers.
 

1  Can you tell me where the pain is?                                                  a The pain’s really bad.  
2  What’s the pain like?                                                                          b It’s an eight. 
3  How bad is the pain?                                                                         c Yes, it aches all the time.

4  How would you rate your pain from zero to ten?                            d  It’s very painful.   
5  Does it hurt all the time?                                                                   e It’s in my hip.    

Activity 4: Watch the video on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQYvd6T76og   
 

Answer the questions after the video.
 

1. Why doesn’t Mrs Browne feel well?

a  She has a stomach ache.

b   Her tooth hurts.

c    She has a lot of pain.

 

2. Where is her pain?

a  In her left hip

b  In her right knee.

c   In her right hip.

 

3. What is her pain like?

a  It’s only a bit painful.

b It hurts a little bit.

c It hurts a lot.

 

4. How does Mrs Browne rate her pain on the pain scale?

a  She says it’s a five.

b  She says it’s a sad face.

c  She says it’s an eight.

 

5  The nurse says she can bring some painkillers because Mrs Browne _________.

a   only had them a few minutes ago.

b  wants them.

c  had some tablets a long time ago.

 

 

Types of painkillers.
 

The medical term for painkillers is ‘analgesia’. When you talk to patients you should say ‘painkillers’. Analgesia can be given in several ways:
 

1   tablet – medicine with a hard cover

2  capsule – medicine with a soft cover

3 injection  - a sharp object which pushes medicine into the skin

4. suppository – medicine which is put into the rectum and dissolves

5. PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesia) – medicine in a large syringe which is connected to the patient. The patient pushes a button when they want some analgesia

 

Activity 5: Label the painkillers 

_________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

____________________________________________

__________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Activity 6:  Complete the dialogue then make a video of the dialogue.

Use these phrases:

all the time
what the pain is like
rate your pain
some pain killers,
more than four
get you some
a lot of pain
where the pain is

 

Nurse : What’s the problem?

Patient: I’ve got ___________________________________.

Nurse : Can you tell me ______________________________________________?

Patient:   It’s in my right hip.

Nurse : Can you tell me ___________________________________________?

Patient:  It’s very bad.

Nurse : How would you _________________________________ on a scale of zero to ten?

Patient:. It’s an eight.

Nurse :Does it hurt __________________________________?

Patient: It’s worse when I try to walk.

Patient: Can I have __________________________________ please?

Nurse :. Let me check your drug chart.

Nurse : You had some pain killers ________________________________ hours ago.

Nurse : I can __________________________________ now.

Patient: Thanks, nurse.

Nurse : I’ll be back in a few minutes with your tablets.

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