Pain assessment tools in patients with artificial ventilation

Abstract

The objective of this literature review was to find the tools used for pain assessment in patients with artificial ventilation who cannot verbalize their pain. The research was conducted based on systematic browsing of the available electronic licensed and freely available databases of Ebsco, Nursing Ovid, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. The following key words were used for the searches: pain assessment, pain management, intensive care, critical care, nursing. References acquired from the primary search were further selected to meet the following criteria: focus on pain assessment in intensive care (ICU) patients, studies presenting a unidimensional or multidimensional tool. The tool testing was carried out in patients spontaneously ventilating, or those with artificial ventilation. The tool was tested for usability and psychometric characteristics. In this phase, 1,153 full-text documents were found using the criteria. The final list contained 14 research studies upon an analysis carried out. Six measurement tools assessing pain in patients with artificial ventilation were established. Based on the analysis and comparison of the established tools, the most suitable tool for pain assessment in patients with artificial ventilation appears to be the Behavioural Pain Scale and The Critical Care Observation Tool. Presently, there are a number of measurement tools which can be used to assess pain in patients with artificial ventilation. However, none of them are validated for the Czech nursing environment in terms of language and culture. The use of a suitable and valid tool to assess pain in patients with artificial ventilation who cannot verbalize pain is fundamental for this group of patients in order to detect and eliminate pain.