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. 2019 Dec 30;3:75. doi: 10.1186/s41687-019-0171-9

Table 3.

Example of a quality indicator

Definition The proportion of patients who underwent surgery and have a pain score ≤ 4 at 24 h after surgery
Rationale Pain reduction is an important goal in care after surgery. Pain management should be aimed at reducing pain to an acceptable level of ≤4 on a numeric rating scale (NRS).
Numerator The number of patients who underwent surgery and had a pain measurement ≤4 at 24 h after surgery
Denominator All patients who underwent surgery and had a pain measurement at 24 h after surgery
Specification Pain is measured in all patients at 24 h after surgery, using an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) with 0 points being no pain at all, and 10 points being unbearable pain
Norm > 80% of the patients should have a pain level of ≤4 at 24 h after surgery