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Strategies used in post‐operative pain assessment and their clinical accuracy
Author(s) -
Sjöström Björn,
Dahlgren Lars Owe,
Haljamäe Hengo
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.2000.00323.x
Subject(s) - pain assessment , medicine , visual analogue scale , physical therapy , medline , nursing assessment , pain management , nursing , political science , law
• Our knowledge about the content of strategies used by staff members in a surgical recovery unit for assessment of post‐operative pain is fairly limited. • The aim of the present study was to describe variations in the content of strategies used by nurses and physicians in practical clinical pain assessments and to evaluate the clinical accuracy of the strategies used. • Critical care nurses ( n =30), physicians ( n =30) and postsurgical patients ( n =180) comprise the respondents. • Applying a phenomenographical approach, interview data were tape‐recorded during 180 clinical pain assessments. The pain assessments were related to comparative bedside pain ratings (Visual analogue Scale, VAS), both by staff members and post‐operative patients. The recorded interviews were analysed to describe variations in ways of assessing pain. • Pain assessment strategies were established by combining categories describing the impact of experience and categories of assessment criteria. • The present observations, if included in the education of clinical staff members, could increase the understanding and thereby the quality of the pain assessment process.