• Kerstin Eriksson, Lotta Wikström, Kristofer Årestedt, Bengt Fridlund, and Anders Broström.
• School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden; Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Ryhov County Hospital, Jönköping, Sweden. Electronic address: kerstin.eriksson@lj.se.
• Appl Nurs Res. 2014 Feb 1; 27 (1): 41-6.

AimThe purpose of this study was to describe how patients perceive the use of the numeric rating scale in postoperative pain assessments.BackgroundThere are recommendations to use a pain scale to follow patients' postoperative pain. Most patients prefer the NRS but there is a discrepancy between patients and healthcare professionals how to interpret the ratings from the pain assessments.MethodsA descriptive design with a phenomenographic approach was used. Semi structured interviews were held with 25 patients.ResultsThree description categories emerged that illustrate patients' perceptions; use of the NRS facilitated communication of pain, it put demands on healthcare professionals and care routines and it contained interpretation difficulties.ConclusionThe NRS has a place in pain management according to the patients but there is a need for a dialogue to give the patients the opportunity to describe their pain and set a common goal.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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