Table 2 Frequencies and percentages of correct responses for “true/false/don’t know” section (n = 100)

Pain can be defined as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage” (True)*.

Non-pharmacological methods, such as splinting, are effective methods to assist pain relief (True).

In the event that a patient’s pain is not managed, their overall clinical condition may deteriorate (progressively worse) (True).

Self-reports of pain according to the numeric rating scale (pain assessment tool) are the quickest way to assess pain (True).

Entonox® (Nitrous Oxide) is a potent analgesic with a very rapid onset of action and is quickly eliminated from the body (True).

Children younger than 11 years cannot reliably report pain, therefore, clinicians should rely solely on the parent’s assessment of the child’s pain intensity (False).

Similar or comparable stimuli, in different people, will produce the same intensity or severity of pain (False).

If you do not consider the condition to be painful the patient should not receive analgesia (pain relief) (False).

In the pre-hospital environment, patients should not receive analgesia for chronic medical conditions (False).

Giving patients’ sterile water by injection (placebo) is a useful test to determine if their pain is real (False).

Unconscious patients do not experience pain (False).^a

Due to an underdeveloped nervous system, children younger than 2 years, have decreased sensitivity to pain and limited memory of painful experiences (False).

Adult and paediatric patients who can be distracted from their pain are usually not experiencing severe pain (False).

Vital signs are always reliable (good) indicators of the intensity or severity of a patient’s pain (False).

Young infants, less than 6 months of age, cannot tolerate opioids/narcotics (like morphine) for pain relief (False).

Patient behaviour is a more reliable (good) indicator of pain than a patient’s self-report (False).

The experience and expression of pain are influenced by a patient’s culture and/or spiritual beliefs (True).

If the source of a patient’s pain is unknown, opioids/narcotics (like morphine) should not be used during the pain evaluation period, as this could mask the ability to correctly diagnose the cause of pain (False).