Final answer:
The EMT should document a patient's description of chest pain using the patient's own words. This provides an accurate account of the patient's subjective experience and is favored over the EMT's perception or the use of medical terminology.
Step-by-step explanation:
When documenting a patient's description of chest pain or discomfort, the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) should use the patient's own words. This practice ensures that the subjective nature of symptoms, which includes sensations such as pain that are felt by the patient but cannot be objectively measured, are accurately represented in the patient's medical records. Using the patient's own words provides a clearer understanding of their experience, as opposed to applying the EMT's personal perception or medical jargon which may not reflect the patient's actual experience.
It can be challenging to quantify symptoms like pain, but some clinicians use tools such as the Wong-Baker Faces pain-rating scale which asks patients to rate their pain on a scale from 0-10. Another method includes measuring skin conductance fluctuations, which reflect the body's response to the stressor of pain. However, when documenting, the patient's own description is the most critical component to capture.