Assessing Pain Charts When Testing Pain Tolerance Mikah Jones Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology

Introduction Many hospitals use pain charts but there isn’t a pain chart(s) out there that is the best to use or more widely used. Pain tolerance is associated with pain. Every one individual has a different pain tolerance than another. Race and gender are factors that can play an important role in pain tolernace.

Rationale If hospitals are using just any pain chart, then that pain chart might not actually be helping the patients there. It would be helpful to the patient and doctor to have a pain chart that is effective and easy to use and can be used on any type of pain

Purpose The purpose of this project is to see which pain chart is the easiest to use. Another purpose of this project is to show the difference in pain tolerance in gender and race groups.

4 Pain Charts Being Used

Background In a study (Ferreira-Valente, Ribeiro, Jensen. February 2011.), it tested 4 Pain charts on how well it can measure pain intensity. 4 Pain Charts: Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) Verbal Rating Scale (VRS) Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) The participants did 4 20-second trials of the Cold Pressor Test(CPR). The temperatures for the cold water were 1, 3, 5, and 7, degrees Celsius. Results showed that the Numerical Rating Scale was the most responsive, and was able to detect gender pain intensity differences.

In another study found (Kenneth, Woodrow, Friedman, Sieglaub, Coleen In another study found (Kenneth, Woodrow, Friedman, Sieglaub, Coleen. 1972) they tested the pain tolerance between different age, races, and genders. Results showed 3 things: 1. Pain Tolerance decreases with age 2. Men tolerate more pain then women 3. Whites tolerate more pain than Asians.

Hypotheses Main hypothesis: the Numerical Rating Scale will be the the easiest to use compared to the other pain charts being used. Sub Hypothesis: A. Females will experience a greater pain tolerance than males Sub Hypothesis: B. Whites will experience a higher pain tolerance than race groups

Experimental Design Diagram   Manowski Pain Scale Numerical Rating Scale Pain Coping Chart Faces Pain Scale- Revised Male Caucasian 5 African- American Hispanic/Latino Asian Female

Procedures Data is collected and analyzed Consent forms are given out Consent forms are returned and start the Cold Pressor Test Container is filled with cold water Data is collected and analyzed Participants take their hand out and use pain chart Participants put their hands in the water for 1 minute

Data Analysis 38 Participants were used overall 19 Males, 19 Females 10 Blacks, 10 Whites, 9 Asians, 9 Hispanics

Ease of Use Average Pain Score Chart Type Average Ease of Use MPS 1.5263 NRS 1.3158 PCC 1.5 FPSR 1.605

Race Vs. Pain Score Gender Vs. Pain Score Gender Average Pain Score Male 4 Female

Conclusions The Numerical Rating Scale was found to be the easiest pain chart to use. The main hypothesis was supported Sub hypothesis A and B were both rejected Overall all pain charts were found easy to use The use of the pain coping chart would not be used in other types of pain since it has a higher average pain score

Acknowledgments I would like to thank Scott Bolen for helping me with my project and answering any questions that I had along the way. I would also like to thank the volunteers for being apart of my project.

Literature Cited Woodrow, K., Friedman, G., Slegelaub, A., Collen, M. (November). Pain Tolerance: Differences According to Age, Sex and Race. Retrieved from http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/34/6/ 548.short Ferreira-Valente,M., Ribeiro,J., Jensen. M. February 2011. Validity of four pain intensity rating scales. Retrieved from http://www.painjournalonline.com/article/S0304- 3959(11)00445-3/abstract

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smyrna presbyterian Christmas Walk

Soccer Team Manager

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