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Acute pain assessment tools

2015; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 28; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/aco.0000000000000225

1473-6500

Debra B. Gordon,

Pain Management and Opioid Use

This review highlights challenges and current trends in tools used to assess acute pain across the lifespan.A plethora of similar assessment tools exist for acute pain, most focused on self-report of pain intensity. Attempts to improve the frequency and visibility of pain assessment by prompting pain as 'the fifth vital sign' resulted in unintended consequences, creating a pressing need for a conceptual shift to multidimensional assessment of acute pain.Valid and pragmatic assessment of pain is essential for effective pain management. Unidimensional scales that capture self-reported pain intensity ratings undervalue to the complexity of the pain experience. Pain is a biopsychosocial experience and assessment is a complex social transaction and an exchange of the meaning of pain that demands a more comprehensive approach.