Methodological proposal for the development and validation of a scale of pain assessment in the critically burned patient.

OBJECTIVE: To have a scale for pain assessment in the critical burned adult patient.

METHOD: A literature review was carried out, and an assessment scale was built with 24 items grouped into 8 categories or dimensions: burn extension, depth, airway burn and/or inhalation injury, facial expression, mechanical ventilation, limb movement, heart rate and painful procedures, and 4 evaluation criteria were applied: sufficiency, clarity, coherence and relevance, on a scale of 1 to 4, from non-compliance with the criterion to full compliance with the criterion.

RESULTS: The Scale was revised and validated by expert judgement, reaching an overall content validity ratio of 0.96 (Lawshe) and 0.98 (Tristan-Lopez), an Aiken V of 0.96, which shows an agreement between judges over 96% and an adequate validity of the instrument. The Cronbach index was 0.74, demonstrating acceptable internal reliability and consistency.

CONCLUSIONS: In the experts' opinion, it is an instrument with a high reliability rate and is recommended for application in a sample of critical burned patients for a second validation and its subsequent use and dissemination.