Final answer:
To assess if someone has become pain-free, one should observe both subjective and objective measures: decreased requests for pain medication, improved ability to perform daily self-care activities, and the use of tools like pain scales or physiological measures to quantify symptoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine if a person in pain has achieved their goal of being pain-free, you would look for a combination of subjective reports and objective assessments. The patient no longer requesting pain medication frequently might indicate pain relief, but this alone is not sufficient.
Instead, you would observe their overall functionality and well-being, such as their ability to consume a full meal, which may suggest improved general health, or their capacity for performing daily activities independently, like bathing and going to the restroom without assistance.
These activities suggest a reduction in pain and increased autonomy. Conversely, ongoing requests for assistance could indicate persistent pain or functional impairment. Additionally, objective methods like the Wong-Baker Faces pain-rating scale, or measuring skin conductance fluctuations to quantify symptoms, could provide more concrete data on pain levels.