HESI (Health and Environmental Sciences Institute) Health Assessment Practice Test

To assess the quality of a patient's pain, what question should the nurse ask?

1. "When did the pain start?"

2. "Is the pain a stabbing pain?"

3. "Is it a sharp pain or dull pain?"

4. "What does your pain feel like?"

The correct answer is: "What does your pain feel like?"

To effectively assess the quality of a patient's pain, asking the question, "What does your pain feel like?" provides the most comprehensive insight. This open-ended inquiry allows the patient to describe their pain in their own words, facilitating a detailed understanding of the pain's characteristics. Patients may use various descriptors such as burning, throbbing, or aching, which can help the nurse form a clearer picture of the pain's nature and guide appropriate interventions. In contrast, the other questions focus on more specific aspects of pain. Asking about the pain's onset, as in the first option, is important for understanding when the pain began but does not provide information about the quality of the pain itself. Inquiring about whether the pain is stabbing or sharp versus dull directs the conversation toward specific types of pain but may limit the patient's description and interpretation of their experience. Therefore, while all these questions have their merit in assessing pain, the chosen inquiry allows for the most nuanced and detailed understanding of the patient's pain quality.