Clinical validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Pain Scale.
BACKGROUND
The Multidimensional Assessment Pain Scale (MAPS), was developed to measure postoperative pain in critically ill preverbal children. Following preliminary psychometric testing, additional validation of this 5-category 10-point scale was required. This article reports the results of a follow-up validation study that aimed to evaluate the clinical validity and utility of the MAPS.


METHODS
The MAPS includes five categories and was tested in response to analgesics in a convenience sample of 19 postoperative critically ill children (94% intubated) aged between 0 and 31 months at a tertiary referral hospital in Western Australia. Convergent and concurrent validity was tested using the MAPS, Faces Legs Activity Cry Consolability (FLACC), and Visual Analog Scale observer (VASobs). Clinical utility of the MAPS was also evaluated.


RESULTS
The Multidimensional Assessment Pain Scale scores decreased significantly by four points (40% of total score) after the administration of a potent dose of morphine (P<0.001). Agreement measurements between MAPS and FLACC and MAPS and VASobs showed that the risk of measurement error was small. Internal consistency of the MAPS would improve if the physiologic item was deleted (Cronbach's alpha 0.79-0.64). However, the actual values of heart rate, systolic, mean, and diastolic arterial pressure were shown to decrease significantly (7-14% decrease) at 15, 30, and 60 min after a potent bolus of morphine (P<0.001). The MAPS also demonstrated clinical feasibility.


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that 'MAPS like FLACC and VASobs decreases similarly following rescue morphine. MAPS-revised can be recommended for clinical application.
Ramelet
Anne-Sylvie
AS
Child and Adolescent Health Service, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA, Australia. anne-sylvie.ramelet@health.wa.gov.au
Rees
Nancy Willie
NW
McDonald
Sue
S
Bulsara
Max K
MK
Huijer Abu-Saad
Huda
H
D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000145:classification*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014904:Western Australia