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Evaluation of pain in the pediatric patient by nurse in the hospital

Article type: Other

Authors: Machado, Vanessa Vieira | de Mello, Luane Marques | da Silva, Anderson Soares | Nunes, Altacílio Aparecido;

Affiliations: Department of Pediatric Nursing, School of Nursing, Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil | Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto City, São Paulo State, Brazil

Note: [] Corresponding author: Altacílio Aparecido Nunes, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo Av. Bandeirantes, 3900, Monte Alegre CEP: 14049-900 Ribeirão Preto, SP - Brazil. Tel.: +55 16 3602 2569; Fax: +55 16 3633 1386; E-mail: altacilio@fmrp.usp.br.

Keywords: Pain measurement, nursing care, quality of health care

DOI: 10.3233/PIC-2012-015

Journal: Journal of Pediatric Intensive Care, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 87-93, 2012

Received 7 September 2010
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Revision received 26 January 2011
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Accepted 26 January 2011
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Published: 2012
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Abstract

To understand the way pain is produced and perceived is very important for its relief. In recent years, important advances have been made regarding the evaluation of pain, with the validation of objective criteria such as Oucher pain scales, body diagrams, numerical scales, verbal descriptive scales and visual analogue scales. The objective evaluation of pain is of special importance in pediatrics given the difficulties inherent to the patients of this group. The purpose of this study was to determine how nursing professionals evaluate pain in hospitalized children. We employed a questionnaire to nursing professionals (nurse technicians, practical nurses and registered nurses) that work in the pediatric service of a teaching hospital. Fifty-six professionals (100% women) answered the questionnaire. Of these, 55 (98.2%) stated that they knew the methods and cited vital signals, physical examination and patient behaviors as items for evaluation. Although the majority of professionals (98.2%) have reported knowledge of objective methods (scales) for pain assessment in children, there was a predominance of behavioral observation as a method of choice (prevalence ratio 2.27; 95% confidence interval: 0.9 to 2.38). No significant associations or differences were observed between professional category, time of experience, other variables, and the type of method employed. The selected professionals do not use scales or other objective methods to measure pain in children. Therefore, it is necessary to habilitate and train nursing professionals working with pediatric patients in pain so that they will be able to assess their pain in an adequate manner.