2023-07-13 discussion:  There's a proposed recommendation in the  USCDI Level 1 Pain Severity  element, to represent this using the single LOINC code  38208-5 - Pain severity - Reported . Because the Vital Sign Observation's binding to this value set is SHOULD, not SHALL, implementers would still be free to use other, more specific LOINC codes for pain severity, such as 72514-3, 38214-3, or 38215-0. So if we  did  want to include this as a vital sign, 38208-5 is likely the best LOINC code to use. However, because of concerns about considering pain a vital sign (which has been cautioned against by the  Joint Commission  and  other  sources  alongside its subjectivity (whereas every other vital sign currently in the value set is objective), we're closing this ticket and will not act on it. We'll discuss this with Patient Care and re-open a new ticket if they recommend making this change or some similar one.