Which method can effectively assess a patient's pain?

The use of standardized pain scales combined with open-ended questions allows for a comprehensive assessment of a patient's pain experience. Standardized pain scales, such as the Numeric Pain Rating Scale or the Wong-Baker FACES scale, provide a quantifiable measure of pain intensity, making it easier for both the patient and the healthcare provider to understand the severity of the pain.

Open-ended questions complement these scales by encouraging patients to describe their pain in more detail, including its nature, duration, and specific characteristics. This approach fosters effective communication and provides insights not captured by numerical ratings alone, enabling tailored pain management strategies.

Other methods, while they may provide some insights into a patient's pain, do not offer the same depth of understanding. Solely observing physical signs can miss the subjective experience of pain; yes/no questions limit responses and may not capture the complexity of a patient's experience; and relying only on medical history doesn't take into account the current pain state or changes in pain over time. Therefore, employing a combination of standardized scales and open-ended questions is the most effective approach to assessing a patient's pain.