Using the McGill Pain Questionnaire to study common postoperative complications.

For many individuals undergoing routine surgical procedures, their satisfaction with the operation may depend upon their postoperative experience. We used the McGill Pain Questionnaire and the McGill Nausea Questionnaire to study the intensity of 5 common postoperative problems--sore throat, muscle pain, headache, backache, and nausea. We found that the questionnaires were able to determine the intensity of the postoperative problem but due to time pressures, a shorter version would be needed to study large numbers of patients. Using a discriminant analysis, we found that the 25 most frequently chosen words were able to distinguish between the 4 pain-related problems. As well the Present Pain Intensity (PPI) correlated highly with the standard form word choices and appeared to be measuring the same dimension of intensity for these complaints.