New headache classification: implications for neuroscience nurses.

In June of 1988, the Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society published new Classification and Diagnostic Criteria for Headache, Cranial Neuralgias, and Facial Pain. A new standard classification for migraine and tension-type headache was established. An assessment form facilitating headache classification by the neuroscience nurse according to the IHS criteria has been developed. The ability to quantify variables included in the new classification offers the opportunity for productive research on headache by neuroscience nurses.