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Abstract
The push to evaluate pain in patients as exemplified by the fifth vital sign has exposed
serious deficits in practitioner education and training in pain assessment and management
because patient report of pain level has become commonplace in clinical practice.
The rapid increase in prescription opioid medications suggests that practitioners
are trying to address their patients' pain by prescribing opioids. However, the increase
in prescription opioids has also been associated with an increase in prescription
opioid-related unintended deaths. In clinical practice, the fifth vital sign has proven
to be more complex to assess, evaluate, and manage than originally anticipated. Expanding
pain education and training is critical to remedying some of the issues the routine
report of pain by patients has uncovered.