De praktische toepasbaarheid van een Composite Pain Scale bij de beoordeling van pijn bij patiënten van de Universiteitskliniek voor Paarden te Utrecht

Abstract

In this research the practical applicability of the Composite Pain Scale (CPS) of Bussières et al. (2008) is tested at the assessment of pain in patients of the University Clinic for horses (UKP) in Utrecht. The CPS is a multidimensional composite pain scale, which makes it possible to objectively assess pain. The patients have had multiple different disorders and treatments and are devided in groups based on their treatment. There are 94 horses observed for several days, there are 119 observations done by two observers. The results gave insight into the average CPS score per time per condition and it gave insight in the differences and similarities of CPS scores between disorders. Particularly in the patients on the IC and special individual patients where it is expected that they need extra care, the CPS is a valuable addition to the current pain management protocol, because it's easy and fast to use and it made pain recognition objective. The use of the CPS in these patients can help to put together an objective pain protocol and also the recovery of these patient can be followed and evaluated in an objective and simple manner by the different clinicians. There is still more research to be done in these types of patients with larger groups of patients to obtain a trend in CPS scores for the different types of disorders. The Spearman correlation coefficient of the CPS in this research is very strong, suggesting that the CPS is good to use in the clinic by various observers, students, animal caregivers and doctors.