Reply To: Pain Scoring – are we all doing this regularly?

Hi, bit late to this party but I am a huge fan of pain scoring and as Andy said get a bit depressed when I see buster collars dispensed instead of a pain score being done and extra analgesia being given. Or animals being held more tightly or muzzled if they struggle when Post op wounds are cleaned rather than assessing their pain. Or animals being labeled as nasty if they guard their painful area when handled or labeled lazy if they don’t want to get out of their kennels for a walk. All of these behaviors are indicators of pain and are so often overlooked.
I have screen shot both the Glasgow cat and dog pain scoring sheets and put them in my ‘favorites’ in my phone as my phone is always in my pocket and I am capable of adding 1s, 2s and 3s! I think this is more useful than having laminated sheets as they often get moved or don’t get cleaned and anything that makes life inconvenient in a day’s work can often just not get done. So when I TPR I pain score too as I’m already with the patient so it’s really not a hassle or difficult to remember.