Pain Medicine News - Is It Time To Change the Way We Report Pain?

Pain Medicine News - Is It Time To Change the Way We Report Pain?

Excerpt:

"A study by the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT) found that, in addition to the importance of assessing pain relief and improvement in physical and emotional functioning, a comprehensive outcome measure must also consider changes in “fatigue, sleep, home and family care, social and recreational activities, interpersonal relationships, and sexual activities.”13 In 2005, IMMPACT recommended several core outcome measures to be used in clinical trials14; however, few of these measures were designed specifically to evaluate the efficacy of pain management treatments, or were normed on a pain population (e.g., Beck Depression Inventory, Profile of Mood States, etc.). Casarett et al15 found that in addition to the reduction of pain, patients commonly cited improvement in sleep and increased ability to function as meaningful clinical end points. Moreover, Robinson et al16 found patients considered decreased fatigue, distress and interference as indicators of treatment success.
In response to these concerns, the global pain scale (GPS) was created. The GPS was designed to capture the multidimensionality of pain but also to provide a single score that could be used to track changes (e.g., as the result of a clinical intervention).17 Rooted in the biopsychosocial model, the GPS assesses physical pain, affective effects of pain, specific clinical outcomes, and the degree to which the pain interferes with ADLs.

We believe the GPS can be used as a standardized measure of treatment efficacy. It uniquely tracks clinical outcomes after a pain-relieving treatment has been initiated. The GPS can be administered to the patient in the waiting room and scored by the support staff, thus resulting in a robust assessment of pain in one numerical score that the physician can employ to formulate treatment plans. For research, the GPS can be used to measure pain scores and to follow pain treatment efficacy. The GPS is available free for physicians’ use in their practices or research studies, at http://www.paindoctor.com/​global-pain-scale .