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In-Depth Information
Fuzzy Qualitative Pain Scale (FQPS)
The Fuzzy Qualitative Pain Scale consists of a verbal rating scale in which cate-
gories are labeled with words. The patient is asked to classify the pain intensity
according to linguistic expressions (adjectives) such as (1)
no pain
,(2)
light pain
,
(3)
moderate pain
,(4)
intense pain
,(5)
maximum pain
that are registered for eval-
uation. The linguistic expressions for representing pain intensity may be directly
represented by fuzzy sets as depicted in Fig. 24.2b, contrary to classical qualitative
pain scale that uses crisp boundaries Fig. 24.2a. The absence of crisp boundaries in
the membership function and the general theory of approximate reasoning address
the interface between numbers and symbols by using the fuzzy set approach.
(a) Qualitative Pain Scale (QPS)
(b) Fuzzy QPS (FQPS)
Fig. 24.2
Unidimensional Fuzzy Qualitative Pain Scale (FQPS) [3]
24.2.2
N
-Dimensional Fuzzy Pain Scale
A multi-criteria fuzzy pain assessment is further proposed in [4] by intertwining
unidimensional fuzzy pain scales and the Mamdani fuzzy inference system. Base
for a
n
-dimensional fuzzy pain assessment, it is able to represent the inherent phys-
iological, behavioral, and psychological characteristics by taking into account the
emotional, complex perceptual, subjective, and personal phenomenon involving all
