Glossary

Acute painful sickle cell episode

An episode of pain that is caused by blockage of the small blood vessels in people with sickle cell disease. Also known as painful crisis.

Bolus dose

The administration of a medication, drug or other compound that is given to raise its concentration to an effective level. Administration can be intravenous, intramuscular, intrathecal or subcutaneous.

Hypoxia

A pathological condition in which a part of or the whole body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply.

Moderate pain

Pain with a VAS (or equivalent) score typically within the range of 4 to 7 (this description should not be interpreted as a strict definition and will not apply to all patients, as pain is subjective).

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)

A method of safely administering strong opioids which is controlled by the patient (or a nurse for nurse-controlled analgesia).

Severe pain

Pain with a VAS (or equivalent) score typically above 7 (this description should not be interpreted as a strict definition and will not apply to all patients, as pain is subjective).

VAS (visual analogue scale) score

Pain scoring tool measured on a linear scale from 0 to 10, with 0 indicating no pain.

Please see the NICE glossary for an explanation of terms not described above.

Abbreviations