Korean J Child Health Nurs.  1999 Oct;5(3):262-280.

A status of Assessment and Management about Children in Pain

• Suk MH
• Yoon YM
• Oh WO
• Park ES

Abstract

This study was performed to understand pediatric pain management status and nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward it. In addition, it aimed to provide basic data in order to establish effective nursing intervention strategies by confirming the barriers of effective pain management in practice. The subjects were 195 nurses working in pediatric units(general pediatric unit, oncology unit, neonatal unit, neonatal ICU, pediatric ICU) of 8 university hospitals and one general hospital. Data was collected by the questionnaire from the 3rd of August to the 20th of September in 1999. The instrument developed by Sanna(1999) to measure nurses' knowledge and their attitudes and the other tool by Cleeland(1984) to evaluate barriers in effective pain management was used. Results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. Most nurses learn about the pain management knowledges from through regular curriculum of nursing school(62.0%). And almost nurses(90.8%) don't used to utilize pain assessment tool, but the "Faces Rating Scale" is the most frequently used by nurses. 2. The use of pain medication(65.6%) is most frequently taken by nurses as pain management and is followed by massage (55.9%), distraction(27.7%). 3. Nurses' knowledge level is moderate (Mn=3.07). Nurses don't seem to understand pediatric physical development (Mn= 2.86), psychological development(Mn=2.94) well, meanwhile they seem relatively quite knowledgeable about the way pain emerges. 4. Nurses' attitudes toward pain is based on behavioral and physiological responses to pain. They believe 'changes in behavior are a way of assessing pain in child' and 'acute pain increases the number of respiration'. Nurses are ready to accept pediatric pain, but are not positive in adopting pain intervention in practice. 5. The barriers of effective pain management are inadequate assessment of pain and pain relief(81.5%), ineffective incorporation among health professionals(80%), and lack of equipment or skills(80.0%).

MeSH Terms

Child*
Curriculum
Hospitals, General
Hospitals, University
Humans
Massage
Nursing
Pain Management
Pain Measurement
Child Health
Surveys and Questionnaires