The Gastrointestinal Pain Pointer: A Valid and Innovative Method to Assess Gastrointestinal Symptoms.
Wendy A Henderson, Bridgett Rahim-Williams, Kevin H Kim and 6 others
PMID 26657836WHAT IT FOUND
An electronic abdominal-pain tool matched the McGill pain questionnaire in 93 participants and separated IBS pain from healthy controls.
It is a research tool, not an approved medical device, and only pain intensity was tested.
Key findings
01Pain intensity ratings on the GIPP correlated .80 with Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire ratings in the combined sample of 93 participants.
02GIPP and Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire pain scores did not differ significantly when averaged across time and group.
03Participants with IBS had higher pain scores than controls, with group means of 4.67 and 0.63 averaged across time and measure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included 93 participants, 32 with IBS-related chronic abdominal pain and 61 healthy controls, so it does not show how the tool works in other GI or chronic pain conditions. Participants were relatively young, with a mean age of 27.9 years, so it does not show how the tool works in children, older adults or postmenopausal women. Only pain intensity was analysed, so the tool's pain location, descriptor, heart rate and blood pressure features were not tested here. The GIPP is a research assessment tool and is not approved as a medical device. People with organic GI disease, severe comorbid pain, psychiatric conditions, visual impairment or inability to use a touch screen were excluded, so complex patients may be different.
Declared interests
The code was developed by Psychology Software Tools, Inc., and a company employee disclosed employee and stock ownership; the tool is licensed through that company. The authors state the GIPP is not approved as a medical device.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the GIPP as a clinically approved pain assessment device. It was tested only for pain intensity in 93 research participants, is not approved as a medical device, and has not been validated in older adults or other chronic conditions.