Carpenter J S, Brockopp D
College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40502, USA.
Cancer Nurs. 1995 Aug;18(4):292-8.
Patients' ratings of pain intensity are an important component of a comprehensive assessment of pain. Although a 10-cm visual analog scale (VAS) is recommended for quantifying subjective pain intensity, a 0 to 5 point numerical rating scale (NRS) is commonly used. These two scales are often viewed as interchangeable or mathematically equivalent, with a 2 on a 0 to 5 point scale seen as equal to a 4 on a 10-cm VAS. The purposes of this study were to compare patients' pain ratings on each scale and to examine nurses' responses to mathematically equivalent pain ratings. Results indicated that patients do not rate their pain in a mathematically equivalent way. VAS ratings were lower than NRS ratings, and more than three quarters of patients provided ratings that were not mathematically equivalent. In addition, nurses provided with fictitious patient scenarios did not provide the same pain medication for equivalent ratings and chose smaller analgesic doses in comparison with experts.
患者对疼痛强度的评分是疼痛综合评估的重要组成部分。虽然推荐使用10厘米视觉模拟量表（VAS）来量化主观疼痛强度，但常用的是0至5分数字评分量表（NRS）。这两种量表常被视为可互换或在数学上等效，0至5分量表上的2分被视为等同于10厘米VAS上的4分。本研究的目的是比较患者在每种量表上的疼痛评分，并检查护士对数学上等效的疼痛评分的反应。结果表明，患者对疼痛的评分并非在数学上等效。VAS评分低于NRS评分，超过四分之三的患者给出的评分在数学上并不等效。此外，在虚构患者情景下，护士对于等效评分并未给予相同的止痛药物，并且与专家相比选择了更小的镇痛剂量。
