Process / pipelinebehavioral pain assessment for nonverbal patients
FLACC Behavioral Pain Scale
The FLACC Behavioral Pain Scale (Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability) is a 5-item observational tool developed by Merkel and Voepel-Lewis in 1997 to assess acute pain in children ages 2 months to 7 years who are unable to self-report pain. Each of the five behavioral domains is scored 0-2, yielding a total score of 0-10. The FLACC is widely used in pediatric hospitals, recovery rooms, and intensive care units for postoperative and acute pain assessment.
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Sources
- Merkel, S.I., Voepel-Lewis, T., Shayevitz, J.R., & Malviya, S. (1997). The FLACC: A behavioral scale for scoring postoperative pain in young children. Pediatric Nursing, 23(3), 293-297. link ↗
- Voepel-Lewis, T., Zanotti, J., Dammeyer, J.A., & Merkel, S. (2010). Reliability and validity of the face, legs, activity, cry, consolability behavioral tool in assessing acute pain in critically ill patients. American Journal of Critical Care, 11(1), 12-20. DOI: 10.4037/ajcc2002.11.1.12 ↗
- Nilsson, S., Enskär, K., & Kling, A.M. (2008). Postoperative pain and behavioral responses after instructive and supportive telephone calls after surgery. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 13(1), 42-52. DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-6155.2008.00137.x ↗