Pain is considered to be a subjective experience, which should be evaluated and described as the fifth vital sign. However, this practice is not observed to be frequent inside hospitals. Therefore, this study aims to identify the knowledge of the nursing team regarding evaluation of pain; to capacitate the team to evaluate it and to propose it to be considered as a fifth vital sign, in the professional quotidian. This study is characterized as a quantitative and qualitative research, carried out in the Intensive Therapy Center of a hospital in Rio Grande do Sul. Fourteen employees from the nursing team took part in the research. The results pointed out that the nursing team knows about the existence of scales to evaluate pain, as well as to recognize signs of pain. But they do not, as a systematic practice, see it as the fifth vital sign. So, when evaluating the other signs, they do not investigate pain. It is believed that education makes qualified care possible, in which the real needs of the client are fulfilled.
Pain; Nursing; Education; Patient centered care
