Health care worker's impression
+Patient's position, expression, and movement
+Patient's response to a generous dose of an opioid analgesic
+Patient's subjective report of pain
+Vital signs
The patient's subjective reporting of pain, not the health care worker's impression, is the basis for pain assessment and treatment. There is poor correlation between vital signs such as tachycardia and tachypnea or changes in patient expression and movement, and the patient's report of pain. The amount of opioids required to treat pain can vary a great deal among different patients. Response to a fixed amount of pain medication does not correlate with the amount of pain an individual is experiencing.