title: Measuring pain in patients undergoing hemodialysis: a review of pain assessment tools.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients undergoing hemodialysis frequently report pain with multifactorial causes, not limited to that experienced directly from hemodialysis treatment. Their pain may be nociceptive, neuropathic, somatic or visceral in nature. Despite this, pain in this population remains under-recognized and under-treated. Although several tools have been used to measure pain in patients undergoing hemodialysis as reported in the literature, none of them have been validated specifically in this population. The objective for this review was to compare and contrast these pain assessment tools and discuss their clinical utility in this patient population.
  
  
  METHODS
  To identify pain assessment tools studied in patients undergoing hemodialysis, a literature search was performed in PubMed and Medline. An expert panel of dialysis and pain clinicians reviewed each tool. Each pain assessment tool was assessed on how it is administered and scored, its psychometric properties such as reliability, validity and responsiveness to change, and its clinical utility in a hemodialysis population. Brief Pain Inventory, McGill Pain Questionnaire, Pain Management Index, Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, Visual Analogue Scale and Faces Pain Scale were evaluated and compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This assessment will help clinicians practicing in nephrology to determine which of these pain assessment tools is best suited for use in their individual clinical practice.
authors: Pharmacy , University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors: Chandani
authors: C
authors: Upadhyay
authors: Pharmacy , University Health Network, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Cameron
authors: Pharmacy , University Health Network, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Murphy
authors: Pharmacy , University Health Network, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
authors: Marisa
authors: M
authors: Battistella
keywords: dialysis; hemodialysis; pain; pain assessment; pain measurement