A patient’s report and a provider’s assessment of
pain are subject to a variety of factors that are not independently
measured when pain is assessed. The anxiety-
provoking circumstances of being in an ED may
add to the patient’s pain perception or the expression of
his or her pain and thus confound the measurement of
the patient’s pain. The extent to which factors related to
pain, such as perceived anxiety and stress, affect pain
perception and relief is not known.