According to Walker and Campbell (1), pain assessment and control should be a priority within nursing. Yet pain may often be underassessed and unrelieved (2,3), and the reasons for this are complex and varied (4). It is pointed out by many that for the planning of effective nursing interventions for pain, individual assessment is essential, and thus assessment tools are necessary (5,6,7). The nature of pain The complexity of pain is often referred to (8,9). McCaffery (10) believes that it defies a satisfactory definition, while Melzack and Wall (11) state that pain has never been defined adequately, as research is not advanced enough to reach an accurate definition, particularly as the experience is so diverse. The individuality and subjectiveness of pain is also emphasised by many (9,11,12).