Definition of Intensity Scales

An intensity scale is a tool used by medical professionals and patients to communicate pain levels. Intensity scales help doctors and nurses determine the severity of a condition and the effectiveness of treatment.

Age

• Age plays a significant role in the type of pain scale used to determine pain levels. For instance, intensity scales used for adults tend to be more vocal, while measuring pain levels in babies involves analyzing nonverbal communication.

CRIES Pain Scale

• Medical professionals use the CRIES Pain Scale for babies younger than 6 months. The CRIES scale considers medical data, like heart rate and blood pressure, as well as nonverbal communication cues, such as facial expressions and pitch of cry.

FLACC Scale

• The FLACC Scale, used for children between the ages of 2 months and 7 years, analyzes facial expression, verbal communication and body movement, such as squirming and tenseness of muscles, to determine how much pain your child is experiencing.

Wong-Baker Faces Scale

• The Wong-Baker Faces Scale employs visual pictures of faces, from happy to sad, which the patient points to in order to communicate the amount of pain she is in. A happy face indicates little to no pain, while a frowning face with tears symbolizes a severe amount of pain.

Numeric Rating Scale

• The Numeric Rating Scale measures pain on a zero to 10 scale, with zero indicating no pain and 10 indicating a severe amount of pain. This scale can be used for children 9 years of age and older.

Considerations

• In an operation or surgical setting, where your doctor needs to assess levels of pain, he will use the Comfort Scale. The Comfort Scale measures pain by analyzing items like blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tone.