Pain Assessment Tools: The Brief Pain Inventory and the Initial Pain Assessment Tool

Using the Brief Pain Inventory and the Initial Pain Assessment Tool to assess a friend who was complaining of sore muscles, I was immediately struck by the superiority of the Initial Pain Assessment Tool. It seemed to gather all of the information that the Brief Pain Inventory obtains from a patient, as well as other information that would be helpful in a treatment scenario. However, the Brief Pain Inventory has some minor advantages over the Initial Pain Assessment Tool. The main differences in the two assessment tools are: the inclusion of a pain scale; the ability to assess how and when the pain began; a space for a qualitative, rather than just a quantitative, description of the pain; and whether or not the patient finds the current pain level tolerable. After looking at all of the factors,...
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