Pain Assessment Scales — NCLEX Cheat Sheet
Pain = 5th vital sign
👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team
🕐 Updated 2026-07-11
🏷️ Basic Care & Comfort
🔖 Free to read, print, and share
💡
Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Pain Assessment Scales on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
🩺
- Numeric 0-10 verbal adults
- Wong-Baker FACES kids 3+
- FLACC infants/sedated
- PAINAD dementia pts
- Pt self-report = gold standard
- Use PQRST to characterize
- Reassess 30-60 min post-med
- Grimace, guarding, ↑HR/BP
- Restless, withdraw, cry
✨Quick Tip
The numeric rating scale (0 = no pain, 10 = worst pain) is the standard for alert adults who can self-report.
Master Pain Assessment Scales with practice, not just reading
4,700+ NCLEX-style questions with rationales, 51 interactive NGN cases, and an AI tutor — free every day, no card needed.
Practice Basic Care & Comfort questions free →
Related Basic Care & Comfort cheat sheets