Abstract
Objectives
Inadequate pain recognition in veterinary patients has contributed to poor analgesic management, thus impacting animal welfare. Pain scoring systems have been shown to improve pain assessment; however, there is a lack of research investigating their adoption by Australian veterinary professionals. This study aimed to determine the frequency of pain scale use among Australian veterinary staff and to identify barriers to their wider implementation.
Materials and Methods
In this descriptive, cross-sectional open study, an online survey using the Qualtrics software was distributed to veterinary staff working with dogs and cats in Australia. The survey was de-identified, voluntary and took approximately 3 to 5 minutes to complete. Survey responses were summarised descriptively with count (%), as appropriate.
Results
Of the 130 participants included in the survey, 52 (40%) reported routinely using pain scales, 40 (30.8%) only reported sometimes and 38 (29.2%) reported never. Commonly reported reasons for not pain scoring included as follows: pain scales were never implemented (23/36; 63.9%), no training (16/36; 44.4%) and already confident in their pain assessment ability (10/36; 27.8%).
Clinical Significance
The reported percentage of Australian professionals that routinely used pain scores was higher than the hypothesised prevalence. Reported barriers to widespread utilisation of pain scales included a lack of efficient implementation strategies and adequate training. To increase pain scale use in practice, efficient implementation strategies combined with staff training are required.