Development and assessment of an efficient pediatric affect and cooperation scale

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Anesthesiology
• Patient Affect Assessment
• Procedural Sedation

Background:

• Evaluating pediatric patient affect and cooperativity during medical procedures is crucial for successful outcomes.
• Existing scales for assessing preprocedural affect can be time-consuming or complex.
• The HRAD± (Happy, Relaxed, Anxious, Distressed) scale was developed for rapid assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy and reliability of the HRAD± scale against established pediatric affect and cooperativity scales.
• To determine the correlation between HRAD± scores and scores from the mYPAS, OSBD, and ICC.
• To assess the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the HRAD± scale.

Main Methods:

• An observational study involving video recordings of pediatric patients undergoing mask induction or peripheral intravenous (PIV) placement.
• HRAD± ratings were collected from anesthesiologists and perioperative providers.
• Scores from mYPAS, OSBD, and ICC were obtained by trained researchers for comparison.

Main Results:

• HRAD± scores showed strong correlations with mYPAS (r=0.846) and OSBD (r=0.723).
• Cooperativity scores correlated well with the ICC in both mask induction (r=-0.715) and PIV placement (r=-0.869) groups.
• Acceptable inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were observed for HRAD± and cooperativity ratings.

Conclusions:

• The HRAD± scale is an efficient and reliable tool for assessing pediatric affect and cooperativity.
• It serves as a practical and effective alternative to more complex scales.
• HRAD± facilitates quick evaluation during mask induction and PIV placement.