Der Schmerz
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The authors present a system for nomenclature and documentation of symptoms and signs associated with pain. The system was compiled in a staged process by the study group for methods and documentation of pain-associated symptoms and signs (Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Methodik und Dokumentation von Schmerzbefunden [AMDS]). The suggested items were elaborated from terms used in current national and international guidelines and classifications and in part integrated into superordinate terms. ⋯ The items for the description of pain-associated symptoms and signs are divided into the areas of algesiomotor, psychoalgesiological and somatoalgesiological findings. The aim is the documentation of a multidimensional algesiological description of findings with defined terminology, which can serve as a comparable and unified standard, particularly in the field of pain assessment. The AMDS system should enable a systematic description of pain, which is a reliable foundation for diagnostics, therapy planning and expert case evaluation.
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Pain intensity (PI) is a common outcome parameter in effectiveness studies on interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy (IMPT), despite the fact that IMPT highlights dealing with rather than reducing chronic pain. Moreover, the measurement of pain intensity as a highly subjective experience is problematic. Patient participation is absolutely essential to examine the relevance of PI as a criterion of treatment success as well as to select/develop suitable measurement methods. ⋯ The focus group discussions suggested that, due to the highly subjective nature of PI, as well as (verbal) inaccuracies and a lack of standardization in common instruments, the measurement of pain intensity is a challenging task. These limitations should be taken into account in future studies.
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Interdisciplinary pain treatment has been shown to be effective for children and adolescents with chronic pain, both in an outpatient and inpatient setting. Until now, the effectiveness has been analyzed with various outcome measures. Although it has only rarely been used for adolescents so far, Chronic Pain Grading (CPG) developed by Von Korff could be an appropriate general outcome measure. ⋯ The study shows that the CPG is an appropriate outcome measure to display the long-term effectiveness of an inpatient and outpatient interdisciplinary pain treatment. The interdisciplinary pain treatment needs to be better tailored to girls to improve its effectiveness.