Clinical Utility of the Behavioral Pain Assessment Tool in Patients Admitted in the Intensive Care Unit

INTRODUCTION: Unnoticed and unrelieved pain is one of the main sources of psychological and physiological stress for intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The eight-item behavior pain assessment tool (BPAT) is a multicountry validated tool to assess pain in ICU patients. However, its feasibility and clinical utility for ICU patients in India need further research. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The Aims and objectives of the study were to assess pain using BPAT and its clinical utility in pain assessment and management in ICU patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Following ethical approval, 400 consecutive adult patients admitted in the ICUs in a tertiary care teaching hospital were assessed for pain severity using BPAT at intake, baseline pain and procedural pain. Patients <18 years and in deep coma on the Glasgow coma scale were excluded from the study. The patients with BPAT score ≥4 were given opioid analgesic, and their pain was reassessed after 2-3 hours. A feedback regarding feasibility and clinical utility was filled by the doctors. More than 90% of doctors found BPAT easy to understand and use. In most of the cases (95.5%), doctors agreed that BPAT can improve the clinical management of ICU patients. CONCLUSION: The BPAT is a reliable, brief, and an easy-to-use pain assessment tool, which clinicians can use for guiding pain assessment and management in the ICU setting on a routine basis. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: We recommend implementing BPAT in the clinical practice for better pain assessment and control in ICU patients. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Clinical Utility of the Behavioral Pain Assessment Tool in Patients Admitted in the Intensive Care Unit. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(8):695-700.