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The Nociception Coma Scale is a nociception behaviour observation tool, developed specifically for patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) due to (acquired) brain injury. Over the years, the clinimetric properties of the NCS and its revised version (NCS‐R) have been assessed, but no formal summary of these properties has been made. Therefore, we performed a systematic review on the clinimetric properties (i.e. reliability, validity, responsiveness and interpretability) of the NCS(‐R). We systematically searched CENTRAL, CINAHL, Embase, PsycInfo and Web of Science until August 2015. Two reviewers independently selected the clinimetric studies and extracted data with a structured form. Included studies were appraised on quality with the COSMIN checklist. Eight studies were found eligible and were appraised with the COSMIN checklist. Although nearly all studies lacked sample size calculation, and were executed by the same group of authors, the methodological quality ranged from fair to excellent. Important aspects of reliability, construct validity and responsiveness have been studied in depth and with sufficient methodological quality. The overview of clinimetric properties in this study shows that the NCS and NCS‐R are both valid and useful instruments to assess nociceptive behaviour in DOC patients. The studies provide guidance for the choice in NCS‐R cut‐off value for possible pain treatment and cautions awareness of interprofessional differences in NCS‐R measurements.SignificanceThis systematic review provides a structured overview of the clinimetric properties of the Nociception Coma Scale (‐Revised) and provides insights for a solid evidence‐based nociception behaviour assessment and treatment plan.

A review of literature on comfort and discomfort indicates an increase in physical discomfort during the workday. In this paper, three different types of occupations were studied to identify whether a similar discomfort pattern exists in these occupations while participants perform work throughout the work day and workweek. Results are that sedentary and labor intensive occupations show an increase in physical discomfort throughout the workday. In addition, during the workweek, each occupation had a peak discomfort day and all occupations experienced a reduction of discomfort at the end of the last day of the workweek. Acknowledging and understanding why, when, and where discomfort peaks occur could assist in varying task scheduling to improve job performance. Future research should include emotional and psychological discomfort assessments, investigation of effects of age, time of year, and location in the world are warranted.

To find out how many office workers adjust their chairs, 350 office workers in Spain and the Netherlands are observed and questioned on whether they adjust their chairs. It appears that 24% of 236 Spanish office workers and 61% of 100 Dutch subjects never adjust their chair. If the chair is adjusted, it concerns mostly the seat height. Except for the seat height, other adjustment possibilities are not used by the majority of the study population. Reasons for not adapting could be awareness, complexity of the control system and expected effects.