A comparison of nurse and patient: perceptions of postsurgical pain.

In this study, the nurses' and patients' perceptions of a patient's postsurgical pain were compared. Responses to the McGill Pain Questionnaire, Present Pain Intensity (MPQ-PPI) and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) indicated that nurses scored patients lower on the average than patients scored themselves, both before pain medication and after pain relief. As expected, the scores on the MPQ-PPI and VAS were highly correlated, except for patients' scores before administration of medication.