Table 1.

Characteristics of pain assessment tools used in the intensive care unit

Instrument	Score	Population	Language
Critical-care pain observational tool (CPOT)29	Each domain: 0–2 Total score: 0 (no pain) to 8 (most pain)29	Cardiac surgery29,30,33,34,38,40,41,43 Non-agitated patients31 Neurosurgery32,45 Brain injury35,36,39 Delirium37,44 Surgical wards42 Burned46	French29 English50 Turkish47 Chinese48,51,55,56 Polish52,53 Korean54 Swedish57 Finnish58 Dutch59 Italian60 Danish49 Spanish
Behavioral pain scale (BPS)64	Each domain: 1–4 Total score: 3 (no pain) to 12 (most pain)64	Non-intubated75 Traumatic brain injury35,76–78	French64 English65,74 Chinese68,69 Swedish70 Polish53 Finnish58 Dutch73 Portuguese66,67,71 Spanish72
Behavioral pain assessment tool (BPAT)83	Eight dichotomized behavior items: present or absent83	ICU patients of 28 countries83	12 different languages83
Escala de conductas indicadoras de dolor (ESCID)28	Each domain: 0–2 Total score: 0 (no pain); 1–3: mild-moderate pain; 4–6: moderate-severe pain; >6: very intense pain28	Traumatic brain injury85 Severe trauma84,86	Spanish28,84–86
Nonverbal pain assessment tool (NPAT)87	Each domain: 0–2 Total score: 0 (no pain) – 10 (most pain)87	Cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, medical and surgical patients87	English87
Nonverbal pain scale (NVPS)88	Each domain: 0–2 Total score: 0 (no pain) to 10 (most pain)88	Trauma45,88,90–92 Surgery80,88,90,92 Burned88 Cardiac surgery41 Neurological91,92	English88 Iranian92 Finnish58
Behavioral pain rating scale (BPRS)93	Each domain: 0–3 Total score: 0 (no pain) to 12 (most pain)93	Surgical93,94	English93
Pain assessment and intervention notation (PAIN) algorithm95	Total score: 0 (no pain) to 10 (most pain)95	Surgical95	English95
Face, legs, activity, cry, consolability (FLACC)97	Each item: 0–2 Total score: 0 (no pain) to 10 (most pain)97	Surgical97,98 Neurological97,98 Cardiac surgery41	English97
Multidimensional objective pain assessment tool (MOPAT)100,101	Behavioral dimension: 0 (none) to 3 (severe) Physiologic dimension: 0 (no change) or 1 (change)100,101	Medical patients101	English101