Pain Assessment in the Intensive Care Unit

December 16, 2015 updated by: University of Chicago

Pain assessment using self-report scales (Visual Analogue Scale, Numerical Rating Scale), is recommended in the general population, however it is not always possible in patients with altered neurological status such as sedated patients or patients with delirium. Consequently, pain assessment is highly challenging in these ICU patients. This is a prospective observational study assessing 3 behavioral pain scales in the ICU.

The hypothesis of this proposal is that one of the three ICU pain scales has a more important reliability than the others. Such a scale could be recommended to be used to measure pain intensity in ICU patients not able to communicate.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The aims of this observational study are to measure and compare the psychometric properties of Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS), Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT) and Non Verbal Pain Scale (NVPS) at baseline and following repositioning procedure in the ICU

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

30

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • University of Chicago Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 100 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Intensive Care Unit patients

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age > 18 years
  • not comatose, defined by a Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS) ≥ -3, i.e. between -3 and +4
  • not able to self-report accurately their pain intensity using a visually enlarged 0-10 numeric rating scale

Exclusion Criteria:

-neurological deficits (acute or chronic) that prevent observation of the muscle tonus or movement. For example:

  • Quadriplegia
  • Current use of Neuromuscular blocking agents
  • Severe brain injuries

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Pain Observations
Adult ICU patients who are not comatose with Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) score of -3 to 4 and unable to self-report pain. Patients will be excluded for neurological deficits (acute or chronic) that prevent observation of the muscle tonus or movement
Procedure: Repositioning
pain assessment at baseline then following routine care repositioning in bed

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
pain score reliability
Time Frame: change from time 0 pain assessment to time 30min pain assessment
Behavioral Pain Scale(BPS), Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT), Non Verbal Pain Scale (NVPS)
change from time 0 pain assessment to time 30min pain assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
pain score validity
Time Frame: change from time 0 pain assessment to time 30min pain assessment
Behavioral Pain Scale(BPS), Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT), Non Verbal Pain Scale (NVPS)
change from time 0 pain assessment to time 30min pain assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Chicago

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 23, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 21, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

June 26, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 17, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 16, 2015

Last Verified

December 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 11-0691

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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