SOCRATES is a mnemonic acronym used by emergency medical services, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals to evaluate the nature of pain that a patient is experiencing.
SOCRATES is used to gain an insight into the patient's condition, and to allow the health care provider to develop a plan for dealing with it.[1][2] It can be useful for differentiating between nociceptive pain and neuropathic pain.[3]
SOCRATES only focuses on the physical effects of pain, and ignores the social and emotional effects of pain.[4]
| Letter | Aspect | Example Questions |
|---|---|---|
| S | Site | Where is the pain? Or the maximal site of the pain. |
| O | Onset | When did the pain start, and was it sudden or gradual? Include also whether it is progressive or regressive. |
| C | Character | What is the pain like? An ache? Stabbing? |
| R | Radiation | Does the pain radiate anywhere? |
| A | Associations | Any other signs or symptoms associated with the pain? |
| T | Time course | Does the pain follow any pattern? |
| E | Exacerbating / relieving factors | Does anything change the pain? |
| S | Severity | How bad is the pain? |
SOCRATES is often poorly used by health care providers.[5] Although pain assessments usually cover many or most of the aspects, they rarely included all 8 aspects.[5]