Wall, PatrickISBN 978-0-231-12006-0
Published by Columbia University Press in 2000
In Short: A great additional read for anyone who just didn't get enough out of your certification courses or continuing medical education regarding the mechanics of pain and current practices.
Wall provides a thorough and well-paced review of the anatomy and physiology of pain before continuing into current philosophy and treatment. Weighing in at a mere 175 pages, this book is densely packed with information and even some practically useful knowledge.
Think you have it covered on quality and severity assessment using dull / sharp and 1-10? Ever have a patient describe pain as "bright?" Wall provides an illustrative matrix of about 60 pain descriptors plotted against a severity scale based on research findings.
This book is chock full of case studies and anecdote along with reviews of research and summaries of specific disease related pain mechanisms. Wall also explores pain in patients without any obvious source.
In one of the later chapters, Wall emphasizes the need for action when another human being is in pain. "It is a mystery to me why first aid is not taught to everyone in school. Biology is taught and children end up able to name dinosaurs and identify pistils, stamens, and anthers on a flower, but they cannot tell you what blood is for and why we pee. The aim would not be to produce a gang of overconfident doctors: we have enough of those. It would be sufficient if we grew up with an intrigued awareness of our own bodies in health and an unflinching willingness to offer a hand to others in trouble."
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