Reliability and Validity of a New Pain Measurement Tool: Pictorial Representation of Pain (PRP)

Cenker Eken; Özcan Asilkan; Fırat Bektaş; Uğur Bilge; Oğuz Küçükyılmaz; Neslihan Korkmaz; Gülsüm Ankun; Yıldıray Çete

doi:10.5505/1304.7361.2011.80947

Cenker Eken¹, Özcan Asilkan², Fırat Bektaş¹, Uğur Bilge³, Oğuz Küçükyılmaz¹, Neslihan Korkmaz¹, Gülsüm Ankun¹, Yıldıray Çete¹

¹Akdeniz University Medical Faculty, Department Of Emergency Medicine
²Akdeniz University, Deparment Of Informatics
³Akdeniz University Medical Faculty Department Of Biostatistics

Keywords: pain, burden of pain, measurement, pictorial representation of pain, visual analog scale

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of a new pain measurement tool, Pictorial Representation of Pain (PRP), in order to determine the ability to measure the intensity of pain and burden of pain for patients in Emergency Department (ED).
Methods: Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure (PRISM) has been used as a tool in psychiatric interviews in order to determine the burden of an illness. With modification, a new software, PRP was developed for use in ED. Patients presented with acute pain to the ED were enrolled into the study. Study patients were asked to rate their pains at 0, 1, 30, 31, 60 and 61 minutes with PRP and a verbal descriptive scale in order to determine the minimum clinically significant difference.
Results: A total of 246 patients were included into the study with mean age of 40.6±15.4. Eighty seven (35%) were men. The correlation coefficient between PRP scores one minute apart were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.94 to 0.96), 0.95 (95% CI: 0.93 to 0.96) and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.83 to 0.99) at the three preset time (0 min, 30 min, 60 min) respectively. And the overall correlation coefficient was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.96 to 0.97). The minimum clinically significant change in pain was 28.7 mm (95% CI: 27 to 30) with a median of 28 mm (IQR: 23-34, 95% CI: 26 to 30).
Conclusion: PRP should be a reliable and consistent tool for measuring the intensity of pain. However, further studies are needed to determine the use of PRP in measuring burden of pain.