A pain scale measures a patient

Patient

A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....

's pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

 intensity or other features. Pain scales are based on self-report, observational (behavioral), or physiological data. Self-report is considered primary and should be obtained if possible. Pain scales are available for neonates, infants, children, adolescents, adults, seniors, and persons whose communication is impaired. Pain scores are sometimes regarded as "the Fifth Vital Sign

Vital signs

Vital signs are measures of various physiological statistics, often taken by health professionals, in order to assess the most basic body functions. Vital signs are an essential part of a case presentation. The act of taking vital signs normally entails recording body temperature, pulse rate ,...

."

Examples of pain scales

	Self-report	Observational	Physiological
Infant	—	Premature Infant Pain Profile; Neonatal/Infant Pain Scale	—
Child	Faces Pain Scale - Revised; Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale; Coloured Analogue Scale	FLACC FLACC scale The Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale or FLACC scale is a measurement used to assess pain for children between the ages of 2–7 or individuals that are unable to communicate their pain. The scale is scored between a range of 0–10 with 0 representing no pain. The scale has 5...  (Face Legs Arms Cry Consolability Scale); CHEOPS (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale)	Comfort
Adult	Numerical Rating Scale (NRS-11, NRS-101); Visual Analog Scale; Brief Pain Inventory	—	—

Partial list of pain measurement scales

• Alder Hey Triage Pain Score
• Brief Pain Inventory
  Brief Pain Inventory
  The Brief Pain Inventory is a medical questionnaire used to measure pain, developed by the Pain Research Group of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Symptom Evaluation in Cancer Care.- External links :* article at the Fabry Registry...
  
   (BPI)
• Dallas Pain Questionnaire
• Dolorimeter
  Dolorimeter
  A dolorimeter is an instrument used to measure pain threshold and pain tolerance. Dolorimetry has been defined as "the measurement of pain sensitivity or pain intensity." There are several kinds of dolorimeter that have been developed...
  
   Pain Index (DPI)
• Faces Pain Scale - Revised (FPS-R)
• Face Legs Activity Cry Consolability scale
  FLACC scale
  The Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale or FLACC scale is a measurement used to assess pain for children between the ages of 2–7 or individuals that are unable to communicate their pain. The scale is scored between a range of 0–10 with 0 representing no pain. The scale has 5...
  
  
• Lequesne algofunctional index: a composite measure of pain and disability, with separate self-report questionnaires for hip and knee OA (osteoarthritis):
• Original index (1987)
• 1991 revision
• 1997 revision
• McGill Pain Questionnaire
  McGill Pain Questionnaire
  The McGill Pain Questionnaire, also known as McGill pain index, is a scale of rating pain developed at McGill University by Melzack and Torgerson in 1971....
  
   (MPQ)
• Descriptor differential scale (DDS)
• Neck Pain and Disability Scale –NPAD
• Numerical 11 point box (BS-11)
• Numeric Rating Scale (NRS-11)
• Roland-Morris Back Pain Questionnaire
• Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale
  Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale
  The Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale is a pain scale that was developed by Donna Wong and Connie Baker. The scale shows a series of faces ranging from a happy face at 0, "No hurt" to a crying face at 10 "Hurts worst". The patient must choose the face that best describes how they are feeling....
  
  
• Visual analog scale (VAS)

Specialized tests

• Disease-Specific Pain Scale: where X is the highest pain level on a 0–10 scale and Y is the percentage
  Percentage
  In mathematics, a percentage is a way of expressing a number as a fraction of 100 . It is often denoted using the percent sign, “%”, or the abbreviation “pct”. For example, 45% is equal to 45/100, or 0.45.Percentages are used to express how large/small one quantity is, relative to another quantity...
  
   of this pain level in the group. The DSPI is different from the simple numeric 0–10 scale in that it is measured for a group of patients with a specific diagnosis whereas the numeric 0–10 pain scale is administered individually.
• Pediatric Pain Questionnaire (PPQ) for measuring pain in children
• Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) for measuring pain in premature infants
  Premature birth
  In humans preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. The cause for preterm birth is in many situations elusive and unknown; many factors appear to be associated with the development of preterm birth, making the reduction of preterm birth a challenging...
  
  
• Schmidt Sting Pain Index
  Schmidt Sting Pain Index
  The Schmidt Sting Pain Index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different Hymenopteran stings. It is mainly the work of Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Arizona...
  
   and Starr sting pain scale
  Starr sting pain scale
  Starr sting pain scale or "A Pain Scale for Bee, Wasp, and Ant Stings" was created by the entomologist Christopher Starr as a scale to compare the overall pain of Hymenopteran stings on a four-point scale. 1 is the lowest pain rating; 4 is the highest....
  
  both for insect stings
• Colorado Behavioral Numerical Pain Scale (for sedated patients)
• AUSCAN: Disease-Specific, to assess hand osteoarthritis outcomes.
• WOMAC : Disease-Specific, to assess knee osteoarthritis outcomes.
• OARSI-OMERACT Initiative, New OA Pain Measure: Disease-Specific, Osteoarthritis Pain