PainVet: digital scale for pain assessment in dogs

Abstract

With the exponential growth of the use of intelligent mobile devices, several applications have been developed in veterinary science that have contributed to facilitate the access to information in different areas, including pain assessment, which has been a constant concern of animal health professionals. In this work, the objective was to develop and implement a digital App based on the Melbourne and Glasgow modified scale, developing a database for the Android operating system, obtaining a digital scale, with a score of 27 points, 5 levels of pain, and a PDF exporter. For the verification of this application, the dependent variables used by the Melbourne and Glasgow scale were quantified, evaluating the post-surgical pain in a total of 113 dogs, of which, in 43 patients, 208 observations were made at different times by means of the printed scale, while by means of painVet 70 patients were observed and evaluated, with a total of 197 observations, defining a confidence interval (P<0.05). This led us to conclude that painVet is a useful tool that allows us to assess and record levels of post-surgical pain in canines; likewise, it was possible to observe that patients with post-surgical pain most frequently present mydriasis, salivation, vomiting, and changes in their mental state, signs that become key in the assessment of post-surgical pain in dogs.

Keywords: Pain, evaluation, dogs, app, smartphone