How to talk with clients about pain management
Bottom line
A dvm360 article on talking with clients about pain management puts the focus on communication as a clinical tool, not an afterthought. The piece argues that veterinary teams should identify pain proactively, use validated assessment tools when possible, and set realistic expectations that pain control, especially for chronic conditions, is often multimodal and iterative rather than a one-time fix. That approach aligns with the 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats, which emphasize reproducible pain assessment, reassessment, and clear client education as part of routine care. (aaha.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the message is that better pain conversations can improve adherence, follow-up, and quality-of-life monitoring at home. AAHA’s guidance specifically calls for a shared team approach to pain assessment and client communication, while validated tools such as the Canine Brief Pain Inventory, Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs, and feline musculoskeletal pain indexes can help translate subtle signs into something pet parents can observe and report over time. (aaha.org)
What to watch: Expect continued emphasis on team-based pain protocols, home-monitoring tools, and clearer client education around long-term multimodal analgesia. (wsava.org)
Key facts
- Topic
- Talking with pet parents about pain management
- Main message
- Pain care succeeds or fails on communication
- Recommended approach
- Identify pain proactively and use structured conversations about recognition, assessment, treatment goals, and follow-up
- Pain management style
- Often multimodal and iterative, especially for chronic conditions
- Guideline source
- 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats
- Guideline emphasis
- Reproducible assessment, chronic pain screening, reassessment, and client education
- Assessment tools mentioned
- Canine Brief Pain Inventory, Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs, and feline musculoskeletal pain indexes
- Practice takeaway
- Use hospital-specific materials, assign team roles, and keep pain protocols consistent
A dvm360 article about how to talk to clients about pain management highlights a familiar challenge in practice: pain care often succeeds or fails on communication. Its core message is that veterinary teams should stop waiting for pet parents to raise pain concerns on their own and instead build proactive, structured conversations around recognition, assessment, treatment goals, and follow-up. That framing is consistent with current professional guidance that treats pain assessment and client education as central parts of care, not optional extras. (aaha.org)
The broader backdrop is that companion animal pain management has become more standardized over the past two decades. The 2022 AAHA Pain Management Guidelines updated earlier recommendations with more emphasis on reproducible assessment, chronic pain screening, reassessment, and defined roles for the whole veterinary team. The guidelines also note that client education is essential to helping patients maintain function and quality of life in both clinic and home settings. WSAVA’s global pain guidance similarly underscores recognition, assessment, and treatment as a practice-wide responsibility. (aaha.org)
That context helps explain why communication is getting so much attention. Pain in dogs and cats is often underrecognized, especially when signs are behavioral, intermittent, or attributed to aging. AAHA’s pain assessment framework points clinicians toward a shared hospital approach to interpretation and explanation of acute and chronic pain, and it supports the use of clinical metrology instruments and caretaker observations to track response over time. In practical terms, that means giving pet parents specific markers to watch, rather than asking broad questions like whether a pet seems uncomfortable. (aaha.org)
The dvm360 framing also matches long-running advice from pain specialists featured by the publication. Robin Downing has argued that veterinarians should partner with clients, explain priorities clearly, and respect client autonomy through education. Another dvm360 communication piece advises teams to discuss pain management in clear, understandable, scientific, and ethical terms, and to focus the conversation on benefits, risks, and expected outcomes rather than debating whether animals feel pain. Together, those recommendations support a more direct, less reactive style of client communication. (dvm360.com)
For practices, the operational takeaway is that pain communication works best when it is standardized. AAHA recommends creating hospital-specific materials, assigning team roles, and maintaining consistent internal communication around pain protocols. That can include intake questions about mobility and behavior, validated questionnaires for osteoarthritis or chronic pain, discharge instructions that explain what improvement should look like, and scheduled reassessments that invite pet parent feedback. These tools are especially useful in chronic pain cases, where success may mean better sleep, easier stair use, or improved willingness to jump, rather than complete resolution of signs. (aaha.org)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is really about compliance and clinical accuracy. When teams explain that pain management is usually multimodal, may require trial and adjustment, and depends on home observations as well as in-clinic exams, pet parents are better prepared for follow-through. That can improve adherence to medications, rehabilitation plans, weight management, environmental changes, and recheck visits. It may also reduce frustration when chronic pain cannot be eliminated but can be meaningfully controlled. (aaha.org)
What to watch: The next step is likely wider adoption of structured pain-screening workflows and client-facing assessment tools, particularly for osteoarthritis and other chronic pain conditions, as practices look for more consistent ways to document outcomes and support long-term analgesia plans. (aaha.org)