ECPA pain scale

An ECPA Pain Scale or an ECPA Pain Scheme ( French : ECPA - Echelle comportementale de la douleur pour personnes ágées non communicantes) is a nursing assessment instrument for recording pain and assessing the effectiveness of pain therapy for patients and those in need of care with severe communication restrictions . This applies in particular to elderly people with dementia who, due to their cognitive and communicative limitations, are either unable to express pain adequately or who assign the pain to a wrong part of the body. The pain assessment system, which has been developed and validated in France since 1993, is based on observing the person affected in three different areas, which are called dimensions and are divided into individual items.

• Dimension I: Assessment of the behavior outside the care, verbal expressions, facial expressions and attitude of the person concerned are observed.
• Dimension II: Assessment of behavior during care, including signs of fear, defensive behavior, participation in mobilization, verbal expressions and pain reactions during care.
• Dimension III: Observation of the usual activities, changes in sleep behavior, appetite, movement and existing communication and contact skills are included in the assessment of the pain.

The assessment and application of the ECPA pain scales is primarily carried out by the supervising nursing staff, as they can perceive even the smallest changes in the individual items by being close to and observing the person concerned. Ideally, observations by attending physicians, other therapists and relatives are included in the pain assessment. Every few days, the ECPA pain scale is processed by the caring staff or the multi-professional team, the result calculated in points (score) then serves as the basis for the pain therapy and the effectiveness assessment.

See also

• Visual analog scale
• Verbal rating scale
• Numerical rating scale

literature

• Meike Schwermann, Markus Münch: Professional Pain Assessment in People with Dementia: A Guide for Nursing Practice. W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3170198505

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Karin Wilkening, Roland Kunz: Dying in the nursing home: perspectives and practice of a new farewell culture. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003, ISBN 352545631X , pp. 98-99

Web links

• Example of an ECPA pain scale (PDF; 12 kB)