The Reliability of Remembered Pretreatment Visual Analog Scale Scores among Hand-Surgery Patients.

 In clinical audits in which preoperative visual analog scale (VAS) scores were not recorded, it would be useful if such scores could be re-created at the time of review.  We recorded VAS score for pain during the past week before surgery for 245 consecutive hand-surgery patients scheduled for planned surgery during a 6-month period. A total of 30 patients who refused to participate or were unable to respond were excluded.

The reliability of remembered pre-operative patient-rated wrist and hand evaluation (PRWHE) scores.

In clinical audits where pre-operative patient-rated wrist and hand evaluation (PRWHE) scores were not recorded, it would be useful if such scores could be recreated at the time of review. We recorded a PRWHE score during the last week before surgery for 143 patients. They were contacted after 21 months and asked to furnish a new PRWHE of the state they were in during the last week before surgery.

The value of remembered pre-operative quick disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (QuickDASH) scores.

It would be useful if it were possible for the patients to recreate their pre-operative QuickDASH scores in audits where this score had not been recorded before surgery. We assessed the accuracy of remembered pre-operative QuickDASH scores among 229 consecutive patients and the value of a previously developed algorithm for correcting these scores. Real pre-operative scores and remembered pre-operative scores were compared after a mean of 21 months.