This deals with drug-seeking or attention seeking behaviour. What has to happen before the primary care provider says "This is pain seeking or attention seeking behavior"
The sad thing is real pain can be mistaken for that, and that can be mistaken for real pain.
Sweet2DCore
Well even if the patient seems to be having drug-seeking behaviors, you as a medical professional have to provide the patient with the proper medication (for comfort). And prescriptions usually have a frequency in which you can give them such as every 4 hrs or every 6 hrs. And if the patients pain seems to not be covered by the prescription futher evaluations are needed.
If the PCP sees this as drug-seeking behavior, it should be based on if the person comes back for another presciption when the previous one should be covered for the next X amount of days. Also having a conversation helps to evaluate when it happens the degree and how it affects that persons life. And also knowing that certain medical conditions are more painful, such as long bone breaks are going to hurt more than short bones.
A Military Veteran
Yeah if you see the person 6 times a week, for nothing specific, it's malingering.
Someone with a broken bone needs meds.
Be very careful. One day someone is gonna show up "With pain" and you might blow it off, because you judged them on whatever subconscious criteria.
Then they wind up really sick, and your name is on the charge sheet.
Good luck.
The Ultimate Answer Guaranteed
The only way is to find some identifiable cause of the pain, ie) back pain - cartilidge disks damaged in xray analysis. Other than this it is recommended that the patient be examined to see if there is not an external source to the pain or even imagined pain which is harmful to the brains normal functions. If basic pain relief cannot be administered or doesnt have the desired effect, more potent drugs are only prescribed if such pain is induced by some identifiable source otherwise a drug test can find any illegal or unprescribed drugs and drug rehabilitation can be advised.
LONDONELVIS
i'm a physio who sees many people a day in pain. pain should only be of concern clinically if it is significantly detrimental to their quality of life. If you prescribe analgesics and they do work, but the patient keeps whinging, then the issue is more psychosomatic than physiological.
Be tough with patients and be firm wi=th your decisions or you'll never learn when to draw the line
best of luck!!
Orignal From: Q&A: As a student in the medical field, I'm taught "pain is what the patient says it is", but where draw the line?
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