Medication history

When assessing a patient with pain, take a medication history (including a history of hypersensitivity, adverse effects and illicit substance use) and perform medication reconciliation. If the patient has used analgesics previously, ask about their response to the analgesic(s) and whether they experienced breakthrough pain¹. This information can be used to determine a starting dose or prevent the use of previously unhelpful therapy.

¹ Breakthrough pain occurs between regular doses of an analgesic and reflects an increase in the pain level beyond the control of the baseline analgesia. This may be a natural fluctuation in pain or, if frequent, reflect inadequate baseline analgesia or management.Return