The formal assessment of pain is important to initiate and evaluate the effectiveness of pain treatments. Assessment subjectivity is reduced by using an assessment tool. Two types of pain assessment tools are available, self-report and observational or behavioral for people who cannot self-report. Self-report: Uni-dimensional and multi-dimensional self-report tools are the most reliable measure of pain as long as the person in pain is listened to and believed. According to Hjermstad et al. pain intensity is the most clinically relevant dimension of the pain experience; hence it is the most commonly assessed element of pain using uni-dimensional tools. Pain intensity assessment tools include the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS), a Numerical Descriptor Scale (NVDS) and the Wong Baker smiley faces, Behavioural pain assessment tools.
A number of behavioural pain assessment tools have been devised for people who cant self-report pain i.e. critical care patients and people with dementia. For example the Critical Care Pain Observation Tool [CPOT], was devised using 105 Intensive Care patients. It consists of four items and scores range from 0-8 A number of behavioural pain assessment tools have been devised for people who cant self-report pain i.e. critical care patients and people with dementia. For example the Critical Care Pain Observation Tool [CPOT], was devised using 105 Intensive Care patients. It consists of four items and scores range from 0-8.
Open access to the scientific literature means the removal of barriers (including price barriers) from accessing scholarly work. There are two parallel roads towards open access: Open Access articles and self-archiving. Open Access articles are immediately, freely available on their Web site, a model mostly funded by charges paid by the author (usually through a research grant). The alternative for a researcher is self-archiving (i.e., to publish in a traditional journal, where only subscribers have immediate access, but to make the article available on their personal and/or institutional Web sites (including so-called repositories or archives)), which is a practice allowed by many scholarly journals.
Open Access rises practical and policy questions for scholars, publishers, funders, and policymakers alike, including what the return on investment is when paying an article processing fee to publish in an Open Access articles, or whether investments into institutional repositories should be made and whether self-archiving should be made mandatory, as contemplated by some funders.
Last date updated on March, 2024