ASSESSMENT OF THE TRUST OF PAIN SCALE IN A POPULATION OF ELDERLY AND YOUNGS ADULTS

Abstract

Pain is defined as ackward sensorial and emotional experience associated to a current or potential damage, or described in terms of this damage, receiving the denomination from the “fifth vital sign”. Ahead of the subjectivity, complexity and multidimensional painful experience, the first challenge in the combat to pain is initiated in its measurement. To evaluate the agreement of the scales Numerical Visual Scale (NVS), of Faces Scale (FS), Behavioral Scale (BS) and Words Graphical Scale (WGS), with Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), applied in aged and adult young interned in the University Hospital of the West of the Paraná. Method: The pain of two groups of patients was evaluated, young adults and elderly, contends 100 individuals each, in the period of April the July of 2006, that criteria of inclusion and exclusion of the research had been selected in agreement. The evaluation pain was carried through, through the scales VAS, NVS, FS, BS and WGS. It verified if the level of agreement with use of the index of Kappa. It was noticed that the NVS presented greater agreement with VAS in both the groups. Already scales BS, WGS and FS, had mainly presented weak agreements in the group of aged. It can be concluded more that for the measurement of pain, it is of great importance to consider the level of education and age of the patient, for the choice of the adjusted method of evaluation.