The Pain Scale for Professionals™
The Pain Scale for Professionals™ is sold as a pocket-sized plastic slide
rule that is usually operated by the patient in the presence of the doctor.
This pain scale has been extensively researched (see evidence) and, unlike
most other methods of rating pain, has been shown to provide accurate
measures of ratios or proportions of pain intensity, as well as discriminating small differences
in intensity.
Instructions for use of the Pain Scale for Professionals™
Accurate pain ratings critically depend on following these instructions
in using this device and obtaining more than just one rating whenever
possible. This is also true for the Pain Scale for Patients™. Research
has shown that the average of two to three ratings provides more accurate
information than a single rating.
Pain Intensity and Pain Unpleasantness Scales
Unlike our simple on-line version, the Professional version actually contains two scales that separately measure the intensity of painful sensation and pain unpleasantness.
The distinction between these two aspects of pain might be
clarified if you think of listening to a sound, such as that coming from
a radio. As the volume of the sound increases, you can rate how loud it
sounds or how unpleasant it is to hear it. The intensity of painful sensation
is like loudness; the unpleasantness of pain depends on its intensity
and other things, such as its meaning, that may influence your estimation
of unpleasantness/disturbance.
The Pain Scale For Professionals has two scales for measuring each of
these two aspects of pain. Although some pains may be equally intense
and unpleasant, there are some circumstances wherein it is informative
to rate these two aspects of the patient's pain separately.
To use the Pain Scale for Professionals™
The basic procedure is similar to that used in our on-line version
The patient is told to slide the middle sliding part of the device to
the right and left and to view the amount of red as a measure of the pain
sensation. The arrow at the extreme left means no pain sensation at
all and the arrow at the extreme right indicates a pain sensation intensity
that you imagine is the most intense that you could possibly experience.
Thus, mild, moderate, and intense pain sensations would be represented
by ratings near the left, middle, and right portions of the scale respectively.
To read the pain rating, the doctor simply turns the device over as if
turning a page in a book and reads the number on the back to the nearest
0.2.
Similarly, the sliding part of the device is moved on a different axis
for the unpleasantness scale. The arrow at the extreme left means not
at all unpleasant and the arrow at the extreme right represents pain
that you imagine is the most unpleasant you could possibly experience.
In this case, mild, moderate, and intense unpleasantness can be represented
by ratings near the left, middle, and right portions of the scale respectively.
Again the device is turned over as if reading a page in a book to read
the unpleasantness rating.
GOAL FOR DOCTORS: PAIN CONTROL
These valuable measurements from the Pain Scale for Professionals™
can show doctors a lot about how their patients' pain is responding to
treatment. With this device, doctors can:
- Monitor subtle or major changes in pain over time.
- Provide a salient visual display of the present status of a patient's
pain, similar to the visual display of other vital signs.
- Measure the effectiveness of specific medications or other therapies
in treating pain.
- Increase the sense of partnership with their patients through working
together to share a simple tool.
The prime purpose of this site is to help patients and not to sell products
to professionals. However, we have received so many inquiries from clinicians
and clinical psychologists and physical therapists that we offer the original
mechanical versions of the tool, while stocks last.
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