Asian Pacific Journal of Nursing

ASSESSMENT OF POSTOPERATIVE PAIN BY NUMERIC RATING SCALE AND VERBAL RATING SCALE AMONG SURGICAL PATIENTS AND PROFESSIONALS IN SELECTED HOSPITALS, MANGALORE

Lynet Jenifer Dsouza* and Larissa Martha Sams

lynetlancy@gmail.com

Postoperative pain; orthopaedic surgery patients; abdominal surgery patients; health professionals; numeric rating scale; verbal rating scale.

Pain is a complex disease process whose treatment management is very complicated and pain management challenges every healthcare team member. The intensity of pain should be evaluated and recorded at intervals depending on the severity of pain and the clinical situation.6 A study was conducted to understand the client’s perception of pain and to measure the characteristics of the pain to implement pain management techniques, by Numeric Rating Scale and Verbal Rating Scale among surgical patients and professionals. A descriptive, comparative approach research design with descriptive correlative research design was used to assess the postoperative pain of patients. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the study subjects 100 patients and 80 professionals (100 observation with 20 repeated). The mean score of NRS (6.2±1.63) was greater than VRS (2.18±0.75) among patients and the mean score of NRS (5.36±1.88) was greater than of VRS (2.03±0.75) among professionals. Unpaired ‘t’ test showed that there was no significant difference between the postoperative pain scores between male and female patients using NRS (t198=0.001; p>0.05) and post operative pain score between male and female patients using VRS (t198=0.05; p>0.05). There was a significant difference between the post operative pain score among professionals using NRS scale (t198=1.06; p>0.05) and postoperative pain score among professionals using VRS (t198=0.63; p>0.05). The findings of the study concluded that there was no difference between the pain assessed by using NRS and VRS among patients and professionals. Study also showed there was a significant correlation between the post-operative pain assessed using NRS and VAS among patients and professionals. This indicated that proper interpretation of pain can provide a strong basis to enhance pain management in the post operative units.