Clinical reliability and validity of the N-PASS: neonatal pain, agitation and sedation scale with prolonged pain

Objective: To establish beginning evidence of clinical validity and reliability of the Neonatal Pain, Agitation and Sedation Scale (N-PASS) in neonates with prolonged pain postoperatively and during mechanical ventilation. Study Design: Prospective psychometric evaluation. Two nurses administered the N-PASS simultaneously and independently before and after pharmacologic interventions for pain or sedation. One nurse also administered the premature infant pain profile (PIPP) concurrently with the N-PASS. The setting consisted of 50-bed level III neonatal intensive care unit. Convenience sample of 72 observations of 46 ventilated and/or postoperative infants, 0 to 100 days of age, gestational age 23 to 40 weeks was used. Outcome measures comprised convergent and construct validity, interrater reliability and internal consistency. Result: Interrater reliability measured by intraclass coefficients of 0.85 to 0.95 was high ( P