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This version was machine-translated from German and has not been medically reviewed. The authoritative version is the German version.

CRIES: pain scale for newborns after surgery

Crying, oxygen requirement, vital signs, facial expression, sleep each 0–2, total 0–10 (Krechel 1995) – without a threshold for pain therapy

Crying: pain cries are typically high-pitched
Oxygen requirement (Requires O₂) to maintain saturation

Consider other causes of a drop in saturation: atelectasis, pneumothorax, excessive sedation.

Increased vital signs: heart rate and mean blood pressure compared with the preoperative baseline

Threshold for 20 %: baseline value × 0.2 plus baseline value. Measure blood pressure last, so that the child does not wake beforehand.

Facial expression (Expression)
Sleepless: status in the last hour

Calculation aid for healthcare professionals: the calculator reproduces what the sources cited assign to the inputs. Clinical assessment and every treatment decision remain with the treating physician. Inputs and results are not stored.

Frequently asked questions

CRIES: pain scale for newborns after surgery: What does this calculator compute?

The CRIES scale (Krechel 1995) assesses pain in newborns after surgery: crying, oxygen requirement (Requires O₂), increased vital signs, facial expression and sleeplessness, each 0–2 points, total 0–10. With reservations: the calculator gives no threshold for pain therapy because it is not stated on the form that was read, and no saturation threshold because the reports contradict each other.

CRIES: pain scale for newborns after surgery: Which sources is this calculator based on?

Krechel SW, Bildner J: CRIES: a new neonatal postoperative pain measurement score. Initial testing of validity and reliability (Paediatr Anaesth 5:53–61) (1995); National Institutes of Health, Pain Consortium: Pain Intensity Instruments: CRIES Pain Scale (NIH Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, July 2003) (2003)