COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF METHODS OF MEASURING ACUTE PAIN INTENSITY IN AN ED

The best one-dimensional method for routine self assessment of acute p ain intensity in a hospital emergency department is unknown. In this s tudy, an 11-point numerical rating scale (NRS), a simple verbal rating scale describing five pain states (VRS), and a visual analogue scale (VAS) were presented successively on admission to 290 patients with ac ute pain (200 with and 90 without trauma), VAS and NRS were closely co rrelated for both traumatic (r = .795) and nontraumatic pain (r = .911 ). The VAS could not be used with 19.5% of patients with trauma and th e VRS with 11% of patients without trauma, whereas the NRS could be us ed with 96% of all patients. The NRS proved more reliable for patients with trauma, giving equivalent results to those with the VAS for pati ents without trauma. These two scales showed better discriminant power for all patients. Thus, the NRS would appear to be the means for self -evaluation of acute pain intensity in an emergency department. Copyri ght (C) 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company.