Page 67 - Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice ( PDFDrive )

40 Chapter 2. Pain

Table 2.3 Checklist of non-verbal pain indicators
Vocal Moans, grunts, cries, sighs, gasps.
Expressions
Facial Winces, grimace, furrowed brow, tightened lips,
Expressions jaw drop, clench teeth.
Bracing Clutching/holding bed rails, tray or table, or
affected area of pain.
Restlessness Shifting position, hand movements, unable to
keep still.
Rubbing Touching, holding, rubbing or massaging
affected area.
Adapted from Feldt ( 2000 )

often adopt a scale or index format in order to determine the
amount of pain patients are experiencing during their wound-
related care. Measures of pain often include an index or scale
to determine the amount of pain experienced by the patient.
This is demonstrated in a number of ways amongst the mea-
sures shown in Table 2.4 .

Verbal Pain Rating Scale (VPRS)/Numerical Pain
Rating Scale (NPRS)

These self-report scales can be administered to patients and
require them to define their pain from a list of descriptive
words such as mild, discomforting or excruciating (i.e. a
Verbal Pain Rating Scale- VPRS), or numerically, such as,
0 = no pain to, 100 = severe pain (i.e. a Numerical Pain Rating
Scale- NPRS). Both these types of scales can be advanta-
geous for the health professional in that they can be adminis-
tered to measure pain intensity at differing intervals, over a
period of time in a simple and efficient manner. They are easy
to understand by both the patient and the clinician. However,
such scales may be inaccurate due to the potential for
patients to recall previous ratings, thus influencing their
current rating.