Pain assessment in emergency department as part of triage system has limited interobserver agreement.

Background In the Danish Emergency Process Triage (DEPT) pain is used as an independent contributor for triaging patients and is validated by the Numerical Pain Rating scale, NRS11. Prior studies have assessed the congruence between nurse’s assessment of their patients’ pain intensity and the patients’ own pain perception with mixed results. The aim of this study was to examine the correlation in pain score between nurse and patient and the inter-rater agreement between nurses when the pain score is used in a triage system in an Emergency Department.