How to Use the Okamura Pain Scale (OPS)
The Okamura Pain Scale can be used to rate pain from procedures associated with pain including medical treatments, examinations, and operations with local anesthesia.
The scale allows you to rate and quantify pain for each area of procedure, and you may also give one rating for the entire procedure.
Fill in the highest value for the overall rating when dividing the ratings up into many distinct categories.
Considering the details of the rating, we feel it is appropriate to give an overall rating of 4 if pain rated at level 3 was recorded twice or more (since level 4 corresponds to repeated complaints of pain).
The evaluator (either a nurse or doctor) can rate the level(s) of pain with adequate observation alone, rather than having to frequently ask the patient about their degree of pain.
(Patients who are asked whether they are in pain during a procedure and answer unassuredly are on the rise.)
Please feel free to use OPS.
If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Dr. Yamamoto, or Nurse Sakaguchi from the operating room.