Harvard Catalyst Profiles

There has been little standardization among visual analogue scales used to measure pain severity and quality of care in medicine. We propose that we can capture health outcome data using a universal and open-access Emoji-based visual analogue scale(EbVAS) in place of current Visual analogue scales(VAS), which are trademarked and not digitally native. Subjects in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Mass General Hospital(MGH) will be asked to score their pain intensity using the EbVAS, compare their EbVAS to a traditional the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), and use a novel EbVAS to describe the quality and nature of their symptoms. A scientifically validated universal and open access EbVAS has impacts for tools like telemedicine and digital health applications, healthcare cost controls through shifts from fee for service to accountable care compensation models, and improvements in healthcare communication, language and accessibility. Introduction: The worldwide accepted definition of pain by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage (Merskey, 1994). For effective pain treatment, pain needs to be recognized and described accurately. The pain literature contains many pain intensity rating techniques, but patient's self-report is the most precise and reliable method to measure the existence and intensity of current pain. There are various types of self-report visual analog pain scales. For example, Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale and Colored Analogue Scale (Stinson, Kavanagh, Yamada, & Stevens, 2006) are used to measure pain in children while somewhat nonphysical rating scales such as Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), are used mostly for adults. Other visual rating scales currently in use include Smileyometer (Read & Macfarlane, 2002), AffectButton (Broekens, 2014), EmoCards (Desmet, Overbeeke, & Tax, 2001), Biberoglu and Behrman Scale (Biberoglu & Behrman, 1981). There has been little standardization among these scales. We propose that Emoji, representing a universal language common to people from all backgrounds and age groups, will make a practical visual analog scale that is free-to-use without trademarks. Moreover, most visual analog scales were designed for paper whereas Emoji are digitally native and can make up-to-date versions of visual analog scales (Lai et al 2021). Aim 1. To determine the extent to which patients in the Intensive Care Unit can accurately describe their pain using a visual analogue scale created from standard Emoji Sets from Unicode V12.0. Aim 2. To determine the extent to which patients in the Intensive Care Unit can accurately describe the nature of their symptoms using a visual analogue scale from standard Emoji Sets from Unicode V12.0. Aim 3. To determine the extent to which there is an agreement between patient's severity description of their pain using the Numerical Rating Scale and patient's description of their pain using a visual analogue scale created from standard Emoji Sets from Unicode V12.0. Role for Student: manuscript writing, data analysis, data collection Prior Skills: none Reference Reading: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2783847