How patients and physicians rate patients’ pain in a French emergency department using a verbally administered numerical rating scale and a visual analog scale

SummaryBackgroundThe visual analog scale (VAS) and the verbally administered numerical rating scale (VNRS) are widely used to assess patients’ pain in a French emergency department (ED).Study objectivesThe aim of this study was to know how patients and physicians use these two scales in a French emergency department (ED).MethodsPatients (N = 198) and their physicians (N = 48) rated the patients’ pain from 0 to 10 using both VAS and VNRS, both at arrival at and on discharge from the ED.ResultsThe ratings obtained by VAS and VNRS were highly correlated, for both patients and physicians. The Bland–Altman analysis indicated for the patients 95% of the differences between VNRS and VAS ratings were between −2.18 and 1.43 and for the physicians 95% of the differences between the two scales were between −0.80 and 0.67.ConclusionSystematic differences between the scores on VRS and VAS were small. In addition, VNRS is easier and quicker to administer and more patients are able to use it.