Table 3.

Examples of some recommended and commonly used pain assessment tools for children with postsurgical or procedural pain

Age range	Measure and brief description	Reference
28−40 weeks gestational age	Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) (observational scale) A behavioral measure of pain for premature infants, based on gestational age and physiological and facial changes before and after a painful event	Stevens et al 1996133
0–6 years	Facial expression, leg movements, activity, crying, consolability (FLACC) (observational scale) Different aspects of the infant´s/child’s behavior are given a numerical score	Merkel et al 1997134
4–12 years	Faces Pain Scale, revised (FPS-R; self-reporting scale) Patient selects one of a series of 6 gender-neutral faces, each face depicting how a child might look when experiencing different levels of pain	Hicks et al 2001135
8–18 years	Visual Analogue Score (self-reporting scale) Continuous scale represented by a horizontal or vertical line with endpoints at the extremes of “no pain” or “worst pain imaginable”.	Scott et al 1977136