There are several types of pain scales used in nursing, each serving different patient needs:
Numeric Rating Scale (NRS): Patients rate their pain on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst possible pain. Visual Analog Scale (VAS): Patients mark a point on a 10 cm line that represents their pain level, with one end indicating no pain and the other end indicating worst pain. Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale: Particularly useful for children, this scale uses faces to represent different pain levels, ranging from a happy face at 0 (no pain) to a crying face at 10 (worst pain). Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS): Patients describe their pain using a series of descriptors, such as mild, moderate, or severe. FLACC Scale: Used for infants and non-verbal patients, the FLACC scale assesses pain based on five criteria: Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability.
