The assessment of pain belongs to the key procedures helping to provide patients with timely and necessary help. Assessing pain, a highly subjective experience caused by different problems, it is important to pay attention to its types. Pain can be classified concerning such factors as duration and malignancy. Healthcare providers are required to analyze its duration to make further decisions related to examinations and treatment. Based on duration, it is possible to distinguish between acute and chronic pain (Murphy et al., 2017). The former usually takes place due to particular injuries, may vary from mild to unbearable, and does not last longer than a few months. As for the second type, it can also have different degrees of severity and involves the sensations of pain that are persistent and affect the patient during three or more months (Murphy et al., 2017). Both types of pain significantly affect the quality of life and often act as patients’ chief complaints.
From my professional experience, the cases of chronic pain are extremely common and are frequently caused by recent surgeries and unobvious injuries, whereas patients with acute pain often have traumas such as fractures and torsion deformities. Apart from the time course, the causes of pain can be classified based on malignancy. For instance, chronic pain can be related to cancer or non-malignant (Murphy et al., 2017). In the first case, it occurs due to tissue changes linked to the growth of tumors, whereas non-malignant pain is observed in many long-term conditions. As a healthcare professional, I have worked with numerous patients with chronic non-malignant pain. Judging from my experience, it is typical for various diseases affecting the musculoskeletal system such as osteoarthritis, RA, or fibromyalgia.
Reference
Murphy, K. R., Han, J. L., Yang, S., Hussaini, S. M., Elsamadicy, A. A., Parente, B.,… Lad, S. P. (2017). Prevalence of specific types of pain diagnoses in a sample of United States adults. Pain Physician, 20(2), E257-E268.