Evaluation of Pain Intensity in Patients under Mechanical Ventilation in Intensive Care Unit based on the Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT)

The critical-care pain observation tool (CPOT) is a standard visual method for determining the pain intensity of intubation. This study aimed to evaluate the severity of pain in patients under mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Alzahra educational hospital, Isfahan, Iran, based on CPOT criteria. In this cross-sectional study, 170 ICU-hospitalized patients under mechanical ventilation were enrolled, and their pain and CPOT scores were obtained. Then, the correlation of pain with other influential factors was evaluated. 135 patients (79.41%) had pain, and the mean CPOT score was 4.06 ± 1.46 among the patients. There was a significant relationship between the presence of pain and the cause of admission (P < 0.001). There was a significant positive correlation between the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and CPOT (r = 0.24, P = 0.001). There was a significant relationship between the cause of hospitalization in patients and CPOT score (P < 0.001), too; so that CPOT scores were higher in postoperative, heart diseases, trauma, burn, brain damage, and respiratory diseases, respectively. The CPOT index is a good method to determine the severity of pain after intubation in patients admitted to ICU, who for any reason, have no ability to speak or express the pain.