Acute Pain Nursing Diagnosis & Care Plan

Various diseases and disorders can cause acute pain. Since some consider pain subjective, it’s among the most challenging medical issues to treat. Nursing care plans for patients with acute pain are essential to ensure they receive the proper care and coordination.

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How to Develop an Acute Pain Nursing Care Plan

Acute pain is a serious condition that, at times, goes untreated because pain can be subjective. An acute pain care plan helps nurses and healthcare professionals meet short and long-term goals for the patient. 

When developing an acute pain nursing care plan, the first step is determining a patient’s goals. Although you’ll generate parts of the nursing care plan on your own, the nursing diagnosis must be on the NANDA-I approved nursing diagnosis list.

According to the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA),  a nursing diagnosis is “a clinical judgment about the human response to health conditions/life processes, or a vulnerability for that response, by an individual, family, group or community.”

A nursing diagnosis is rooted in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid and helps prioritize treatments. Based on the nursing diagnosis, you’ll set goals to resolve your patient’s problems through nursing implementations determined in the next step.

NANDA-I separates nursing diagnoses into four categories:

• Problem-focused: A diagnosis based on patient problems present during a nursing assessment.
• Risk: A diagnosis based on risk factors that require intervention from a nurse or healthcare team before a real problem develops.
• Health promotion: A diagnosis that intends to improve the overall well-being of an individual, family, or community.
• Syndrome: Based on a cluster of nursing diagnoses that occur in a pattern or can all be addressed through the same or similar nursing interventions.

Determining the most important goals for the patient and the corresponding nursing diagnosis provides the basis to create an acute pain care plan that can best support the patient while reaching those goals.

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Acute Pain Nursing Care Plan Components

A nursing care plan has several key components, including:

• Nursing Diagnosis
• Expected outcome
• Nursing interventions and rationales
• Evaluation

Each of the five main components is essential to the overall nursing process and care plan. A properly written care plan must include these sections. Otherwise, it won’t make sense!

• Nursing diagnosis: A clinical judgment that helps nurses determine the plan of care for their patients.
• Expected outcome: The measurable action for a patient to be achieved in a specific time frame. 
• Nursing interventions and rationales: Actions taken to achieve expected outcomes and reasoning behind them.
• Evaluation: Determines the effectiveness of the nursing interventions and determines if expected outcomes are met within the time set.

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Acute Pain Care Plan Examples

All nursing diagnoses must be NANDA-I approved and have corresponding definitions to help guide nurses in writing a nursing care plan.¹ 

NANDA-I Actute Pain Definition: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage, with a sudden or slow onset, any intensity from mild to severe, an anticipated or predictable end, and a duration of less than 3 months.

Final Thoughts

Acute pain care plans are some of the most difficult to write because they focus more on subjective data than objective. To create an effective care plan, nurses must rely on the patients' ability and sense of pain. Therefore, it may be essential to include the patient in determining the goals for the care plan. 

For a care plan to be successful, a patient must understand the goals and how they are measured.

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Other Nursing Care Plans

• Hypertension Nursing Care Plan
• Infection Nursing Care Plan
• Constipation Nursing Care Plan

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References

¹ Herdman, T. H., Shigemi Kamitsuru, and Camila Lopes, eds. 2024. NANDA-I International Nursing Diagnoses: Definitions & Classification, 2024-2026. 13th ed. N.p.: Thieme Medical Publishers.

² Ball, Jane W., Seidel's Guide to Physical Examination: An Interprofessional Approach. 9 ed., Elsevier, 2019.

³ Mayo Clinic. n.d. “Ectopic Pregnancy.” Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ectopic-pregnancy/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20372093.

*This website is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. The information provided should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease.

Nursing Care Plan