Articles: pain-measurement.
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Pain assessments using three different observational pain assessment tools--the Post Operative Pain Score (POPS), the Nursing Assessment of Pain Intensity (NAPI), and the Pain Rating Scale (PRS)--were made on 98 preverbal children following surgery in an attempt to establish the reliability and validity of the three tools. Two observers (raters) scored pain intensity using each of the three instruments before and after administration of an analgesic. ⋯ The POPS and NAPI had internal consistency reliability alphas ranging from .79 to .88 for the POPS and .59 to .77 for the NAPI. Item analyses suggested specific revisions of the tools that might increase their reliability.
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Comparative Study
Visual analogue thermometer: a valid and useful instrument for measuring pain in burned patients.
This study assessed the psychometric qualities of a new pain rating instrument--the visual analogue thermometer (VAT)--which was developed to measure pain in burned patients. The validity and utility of the VAT was assessed and compared with a conventional numeric (NUM) and adjective pain scale (ADJ) with a group of 103 burned patients and 51 nurses. Analyses of the results support the concurrent and construct validity of the VAT as a pain measure. ⋯ The same was true for the nurses' evaluation except for those who had more clinical experience with the VAT and who tended to prefer this scale for its accuracy and ease of utilization. The VAT appears to be a valid, sensitive and clinically useful tool to measure pain in burned patients. A systematic pain assessment procedure which can be easily implemented in burn care facilities is presented.
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Recently, the ischemia-test (IT) had been suggested to be part of the diagnostic procedure for reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). The present study investigated, for the first time whether pain suppressing, as typically occurring under the IT, would correlate in RSD to the pain relieving effect following a diagnostic guanethidine blockade. ⋯ Thus, both procedures have the same diagnostic value for pain in RSD. These results are in agreement with new pathophysiological considerations, assuming an indirectly (via the microvascular system) mediated sympathetic-afferent coupling as a cause of pain in RSD.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Assessing change over time in patients with low back pain.
This study compared the ability of the Roland-Morris (RM), Oswestry (OSW), and Jan van Breemen Institute (JVB) pain and function questionnaires to detect change over time. ⋯ Based on the latter finding, we believe the RM questionnaire may be the preferred instrument for assessing change over time in patients with low back pain.