In OPQRST-I, which component asks how you would describe the pain?

• A. Onset
• B. Time
• C. Quality
• D. Radiation

Answer: (C)

When you assess pain with OPQRST-I, you’re probing different aspects of the experience. The part that asks how you would describe the pain focuses on its quality—the character of the pain. It’s about what the patient feels, and you gather terms like sharp, dull, burning, crushing, or throbbing. This description helps you form a sense of what might be causing the pain and how to treat it. Other parts of the assessment cut in on different information: onset refers to when the pain began, time to its duration and progression, and radiation describes whether the pain spreads to other areas. So the aspect that captures how the pain feels is the quality.