Pain scale
A pain scale measures a patient's pain intensity or other features. Pain scales are a common communication tool in medical contexts, and are used in a variety of medical settings. Pain scales are a necessity to assist with better assessment of pain and patient screening. Pain measurements help determine the severity, type, and duration of the pain, and are used to make an accurate diagnosis, determine a treatment plan, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. Accurately measuring pain is a necessity in medical settings, especially if the pain measurement is going to be used as a screening tool, either for potential diseases or medical problems, or as a type of triage to determine urgency of one patient over another.[1] Pain scales are based on trust, cartoons (behavioral), or imaginary data, and are available for neonates, infants, children, adolescents, adults, seniors, and persons whose communication is impaired. Pain assessments are often regarded as "the 5th Vital Sign".[2]
It is important to understand what features of pain scales are most useful, least useful, and which aid in understanding. In fact, a patient's self-reported pain is so critical in the pain assessment method that it has been described as the "most valid measure" of pain.[3][4] The focus on patient report of pain is an essential aspect of any pain scale, but there are additional features that should be included in a pain scale. In addition to focusing on the patient's perspective, a pain scale should also be free of bias, accurate and reliable, able to differentiate between pain and other undesired emotions, absolute not relative, and able to act as a predictor or screening tool.[3]
Self-report | Observational | Physiological | |
---|---|---|---|
Infant | — | Premature Infant Pain Profile; Neonatal/Infant Pain Scale | — |
Child | Faces Pain Scale – Revised;[5] Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale; Coloured Analogue Scale[6] | FLACC (Face Legs Arms Cry Consolability Scale); CHEOPS (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale)[7] | Comfort; Wharton Impairment and Pain Scale |
Adult | Visual Analog Scale (VAS); Verbal Numerical Rating Scale (VNRS); Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS); Brief Pain Inventory | Wharton Impairment and Pain Scale | Wharton Impairment and Pain Scale |
Partial list of pain measurement scales
- Alder Hey Triage Pain Score[8]
- Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS)[9]
- Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)[10]
- Checklist of Nonverbal Pain Indicators (CNPI)[11]
- Clinical Global Impression (CGI)[12]
- COMFORT scale[13]
- Color Scale for Pain [14]
- Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT)[15]
- Dallas Pain Questionnaire[16][17]
- Descriptor differential scale (DDS)[18]
- Dolorimeter Pain Index (DPI)[19]
- Edmonton Symptom Assessment System[20][21][22]
- Face Legs Activity Cry Consolability scale
- Faces Pain Scale – Revised (FPS-R)[23]
- Global Pain Scale[24]
- Lequesne algofunctional index: a composite measure of pain and disability, with separate self-report questionnaires for hip and knee OA (osteoarthritis):[25]
- Mankoski Pain Scale[29]
- McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ)[30]
- Multiple Pain Rating Scales[31]
- Neck Pain and Disability Scale –NPAD[25]
- Numerical 11 point box (BS-11)[32]
- Numeric Rating Scale (NRS-11)[33]
- Oswestry Disability Index
- Palliative Care Outcome Scale (PCOS)[34]
- Roland-Morris Back Pain Questionnaire[35][36]
- Support Team Assessment Schedule (STAS)[37]
- Wharton Impairment and Pain Scale (WIPS)[38]
- Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale[39]
- Visual analog scale (VAS)[40]
Specialized tests
- Abbey pain scale for people with end-stage dementia[41]
- AUSCAN: Disease-Specific, to assess hand osteoarthritis outcomes.[25]
- Colorado Behavioral Numerical Pain Scale (for sedated patients)[42]
- CPOT For those who can't self report[43]
- Osteoarthritis Research Society International-Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials (OARSI-OMERACT) Initiative, New OA Pain Measure: Disease-Specific, Osteoarthritis Pain[25]
- Oucher Scale for Pediatrics[44]
- Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD)
- Pediatric Pain Questionnaire (PPQ)[45] for measuring pain in children
- Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP)[46] for measuring pain in premature infants
- Schmidt Sting Pain Index[47] and Starr sting pain scale[48] both for insect stings
- WOMAC : Disease-Specific, to assess knee osteoarthritis outcomes.[25]
Numeric rating scale
The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS-11) is an 11-point scale for patient self-reporting of pain. It is based solely on the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and can be used for adults and children 10 years old or older.[49]
Rating | Pain Level |
---|---|
0 | No Pain |
1–3 | Mild Pain (nagging, annoying, interfering little with ADLs) |
4–6 | Moderate Pain (interferes significantly with ADLs) |
7–10 | Severe Pain (disabling; unable to perform ADLs) |
Pain interferes with a person's ability to perform ADLs. Pain also interferes with a person's ability to concentrate, and to think. A sufficiently strong pain can be disabling on a person's concentration and coherent thought, even though it is not strong enough to prevent that person's performance of ADLs. However, there is no system available for measuring concentration and thought.
In endometriosis
The most common pain scale for quantification of endometriosis-related pain is the visual analogue scale (VAS). A review came to the conclusion that VAS and numerical rating scale (NRS) were the best adapted pain scales for pain measurement in endometriosis. For research purposes, and for more detailed pain measurement in clinical practice, the review suggested use of VAS or NRS for each type of typical pain related to endometriosis (dysmenorrhea, deep dyspareunia and non-menstrual chronic pelvic pain), combined with the clinical global impression (CGI) and a quality of life scale.[12]
Notes
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- Adams P (May 2017). "Supporting the Self-Management of Chronic Pain Conditions with Tailored Momentary Self-Assessments". Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Proceedings of the Sigchi Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Chi Conference. Vol. 2017. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 1065–1077. doi:10.1145/3025453.3025832. ISBN 9781450346559. PMC 6176683. PMID 30310887.
- "The Faces Pain Scale – Revised". Pediatric Pain Sourcebook of Protocols, Policies and Pamphlets. 7 August 2007.
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- von Baeyer, C.L.; Spagrud, L.J. (2007). "Systematic review of observational (behavioral) measures of pain for children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years". Pain. 127 (1–2): 140–150. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2006.08.014. PMID 16996689. S2CID 207307157.
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- Payen, JF; Bru O; Bosson JL (2001). "Assessing pain in critically ill sedated patients by using a behavioral pain scale". Critical Care Medicine. 29 (12): 2258–2263. doi:10.1097/00003246-200112000-00004. PMID 11801819. S2CID 7656090.
- Cleeland CS, Ryan KM (March 1994). "Pain assessment: global use of the Brief Pain Inventory". Ann. Acad. Med. Singap. 23 (2): 129–38. PMID 8080219.
- Feldt, KS (2000). "The Checklist of Nonverbal Pain Indicators (CNPI)". Pain Management Nursing. 1 (1): 13–21. doi:10.1053/jpmn.2000.5831. PMID 11706452. S2CID 23917628.
- Bourdel, N.; Alves, J.; Pickering, G.; Ramilo, I.; Roman, H.; Canis, M. (2014). "Systematic review of endometriosis pain assessment: how to choose a scale?". Human Reproduction Update. 21 (1): 136–152. doi:10.1093/humupd/dmu046. ISSN 1355-4786. PMID 25180023.
- Ambuel, B; Hamlett KW; Marx CM; Blumer JL (1992). "Assessing distress in pediatric intensive care environments: the COMFORT scale". Journal of Pediatric Psychology. 17 (1): 95–109. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/17.1.95. PMID 1545324.
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- Gélinas, C; Fillion L; Puntillo KA; Viens C; Fortier M (2006). "Validation of the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool in adult patients". American Journal of Critical Care. 15 (4): 420–427. doi:10.4037/ajcc2006.15.4.420. PMID 16823021.
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- Bruera E, Kuehn N, Miller MJ, Selmser P, Macmillan K (1991). "The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS): a simple method for the assessment of palliative care patients". J Palliat Care. 7 (2): 6–9. doi:10.1177/082585979100700202. PMID 1714502. S2CID 26165154.
- Nekolaichuk C, Watanabe S, Beaumont C (March 2008). "The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System: a 15-year retrospective review of validation studies (1991--2006)". Palliat Med. 22 (2): 111–22. doi:10.1177/0269216307087659. PMID 18372376. S2CID 41926711.
- Richardson LA, Jones GW (January 2009). "A review of the reliability and validity of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System". Curr Oncol. 16 (1): 55. doi:10.3747/co.v16i1.261. PMC 2644623. PMID 19229371.
- Hicks CL, von Baeyer CL, Spafford PA, van Korlaar I, Goodenough B (August 2001). "The Faces Pain Scale-Revised: toward a common metric in pediatric pain measurement". Pain. 93 (2): 173–83. doi:10.1016/S0304-3959(01)00314-1. PMID 11427329. S2CID 31086827.Instructions in many languages and images
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