CHEOPS (Pediatric Postoperative Pain Scale)
CHEOPS (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Pain Scale): six observed behaviors (cry, facial, verbal, torso, whether the child touches the wound, legs) with non-uniform points, total 4-13.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Cry
- Crying (2)
- Facial
- Grimace (2)
- Verbal
- Pain complaints (2)
- Torso
- Neutral / resting (1)
- Touch wound
- Not touching (1)
- Legs
- Neutral (1)
Result: CHEOPS 9 of 13.
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Threshold
- the scale sets no single cutoff; a score ≥ 6 is the most commonly cited analgesia threshold, with ≥ 5 and ≥ 8 schemes also in use, so the total is the primary output.
What you enter
- Cry (no cry 1, moaning 2, crying 2, scream 3)
- Facial (smiling 0, composed 1, grimace 2)
- Verbal (positive 0; none or non-pain complaint 1; pain complaint or both 2)
- Torso (neutral 1; shifting/tense/shivering/upright/restrained 2)
- Touch wound (not touching 1; reaching/touching/grabbing/restrained 2)
- Legs (neutral 1; squirming/drawn-up/standing/restrained 2)
How this is calculated
- Items
- six behaviors, non-uniform points: cry 1-3, facial 0-2, verbal 0-2, torso 1-2, touch (wound) 1-2, legs 1-2; total 4-13 (the floor is 4 because cry has no zero option).
McGrath PJ, Johnson G, Goodman JT, Schillinger J, Dunn J, Chapman JA. CHEOPS: a behavioral scale for rating postoperative pain in children. In: Fields HL, Dubner R, Cervero F, eds. Advances in Pain Research and Therapy, Vol 9. New York: Raven Press; 1985:395-402. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.