Feb 7th Flashcards
first pain rating scale
‘Verbal Pain Intensity Scale’ (VRS)
‘Verbal Pain Intensity Scale’ (VRS)
simply pick the adjective that you think most closely defines your pain
problem with transferring this verbal scale to one with numbers is
most number scales have 11 points, whereas this one has 6.
also have to accept the fact that the difference between ‘mild’ and ‘moderate’ is the same as the difference between ‘moderate’ and ‘severe,’ and there’s no real reason to think that that’s true
‘Numeric Rating Scale’ (NRS)
there are 11 points, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst possible pain or variations thereof
difficulty with NRS
one person’s 4 can be another person’s 7, and people tend to overexaggerate their pain level or simply do not understand the task they’ve been given.
also difficult for the patient to give an average of their pain, especially if they suffer from chronic pain. Their pain could be very minimal when they’re still and then excruciating when they’re moving.
good thing about NRS
if one week you give a 4, and then the next week you give a 6, we can still use that information to surmise that your pain has increased
‘Visual Analogue Scale’ (VAS)
where you give someone a blank line with no pain at one end and the worst pain imaginable at the other and ask them to draw a notch anywhere on the line. There are no numbers on this line, but it can later be converted into a numerical rating by measuring the notch distance along the 10cm line
why is VAS better than NRS
it’s more difficult to falsify your rating to appease your doctor or get them to give you a different prescription
‘FACES Scale’
mostly used with young children
issue with ‘FACES Scale’
depicts no pain as happiness rather than neutrality. (This issue has been fixed in later iterations of this scale.)
problem with faces scale and visual analogue scale
too descriptive and descriptions are far too arbitrary
When someone gives you a pain rating
chances are they’re not aiming at the same thing you aim for
another issue with pain scales
women have bigger pain scales than men, as they experience more pain commonly in their lifetime than men do
generally, everyone has different-sized scales, and what is halfway up my scale is maybe 4 of the way up yours.
Stutts et al 2009
In this study, people tended to imagine things hurting more than they actually do. The only instance in which this was the opposite was with childbirth.
