Pain Assessment Preferences in Healthcare Providers: A Survey from Turkey

Abstract

Objective: Pain assessment of individuals with acute or chronic pain while creating a physiotherapy program is of great importance in demonstrating the effectiveness of the treatment. The aim of this study is to determine the pain assessment preferences of healthcare providers. Material and Method: We tried to reach different healthcare providers who are dealing with patients suffering from pain, living and working in Turkey via a Google survey. Healthcare providers (aged 18-60) with at least one year of work experience in their field were included. In the questionnaire, age, gender, profession, working time in the profession, institution, acute/chronic patient follow-up, pain severity assessment scale preference, and pain localization assessment preference were questioned. Results: A total of 159 healthcare providers (114 females and 45 males) participated in this survey and replied to the questionnaire. 54.7% of them reported that they preferred the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and 11.9% of them preferred the Verbal Rating Scale (VRS) to evaluate pain intensity. The participants preferred verbal feedback and palpation to determine pain localization. Conclusion: In this survey was conducted in Turkey, health providers’ preferences were found to be similar to the related literature. The results obtained from this survey also indicate that health providers working in Turkey mostly prefer VAS in pain intensity assessment.