Are Pediatric Pain Self-Report Scores Accurate?

Review of recent evidence with translation to practice for the advanced practice nurse (APN) role is presented using a case study module for "Clinically Significant Differences in Acute Pain Measured on Self-Report Pain Scales in Children." The study results showed that there were 314 pediatric patients with acute pain evaluated for minimum (MCSD) and ideal clinically significant differences (ICSD) using the Faces Pain Scale-Revised (FPS-R) and the Color Analog Scale (CAS). These data reveal stable MCSD estimates for the FPS-R and the CAS with generalizability for acute pediatric pain. The ICSD estimates did not prove to be stable for different groupings of acute pain. The implications and clinical relevance of these findings for APNs are discussed, highlighting best evidence.