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Chronic wound pain (CWP) is often incompletely assessed. The lack of a comprehensive CWP assessment can lead to the development of an ineffective treatment/management plan. Research related to CWP indicates that an objective assessment alone does not accurately reflect the complexity of the impact of CWP including the effect on a person’s health related quality of life (HRQoL). A comprehensive assessment of CWP must include both an objective assessment and from the perspective of the person experiencing CWP, a subjective assessment.
A review of the literature failed to identify an instrument that specifically assesses the impact of chronic symptoms on a person’s HRQoL. Permission was obtained to amend a psychometrically tested instrument that focuses on the impact of a chronic illness. This instrument was amended to reflect the impact a symptom of a chronic illness has on one’s HRQoL. The new instrument, the Symptom Intrusiveness Rating Scale (SyIRS), is intended to assess the impact a chronic symptom has on 15 components of HRQoL and augment an objective assessment. SyIRS was administered to adults (n=53) experiencing chronic wound pain. The average age was 59 (SD 14.64), 57% of the respondents noted the presence of a chronic wound for 3-10 weeks (range 3 -211 weeks), 53% rated his or her pain as 7-10 on a numeric rating scale, and 28% of the wounds were infected. An analysis of the survey results indicated: (a) a positive correlation between CWP and impact on the components of HRQoL, (b) a positive correlation between age and one component of HRQoL – ability to visit with family and friends, (c) and no significant correlation between wound duration or infection and HRQoL.