OBJECTIVES: To compare pain and sedation assessments by nurses undertaken with the Objective Pain Scale (OPS) and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to the current reference scale for paediatric intensive care that is the COMFORT scale. To compare the unmodified COMFORT scale to a COMFORT "behaviour" scale which does not include physiologic items. To evaluate the ease of use of these scales. METHODS: This prospective observational comparative study was carried out in children aged 1 year or older who were admitted in an intensive care unit. At 2 to 3 time points within 24 hours, a pain sedation assessment was carried out by the nurse in charge of the child with COMFORT scale, OPS and VAS. Correlation tests were used to compare the scores of each scale. RESULTS: Nurses recorded 55 assessments in 20 children. Correlation studies showed a poor correlation between OPS, VAS and the COMFORT scale (Spearman's r=0.54 and 0.53 respectively) and a strong correlation between the COMFORT scale and the COMFORT "behaviour" scale (Spearman's r=0.96). The COMFORT behaviour scale was the most frequently fully completed scale. CONCLUSION: Among the 3 scales compared to the COMFORT scale in this study, the COMFORT "behaviour" scale was the only one to show a strong correlation and it also seemed to be the easiest to use.
