Pain in children: attitudes and nursing interventions Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Pain in children either as a disease or as a symptom is one of the main families’ worries, and not only for ethical reasons, but also for clinical and economic ones, its control is a priority. Pain is, as de ned by the Portuguese Association for the Study of Pain (2013), “an unpleasant multidimensional experience. Pain involves not only a sensorial experience but also an emotional one. Due to its complexity, subjectivity and dificulty in assessing and managing pain in pediatrics, this subject should be a reason for reflection and discussion in teams that play their nursing practice with children. Method and techniques: Descriptive study with an intentional sample constituted by twelve pediatric nurses, using a questionnaire for data collection. Results: The present study revealed that all nurses in pediatrics assess pain in hospitalized children using children’s verbal communication, children’s behavior, physiological signs, scales and global observation of children. Results also suggest that 66,7% of nurses express dificulties in the assessment of pain in hospitalized children. To what nursing interventions concerns, we concluded that nurses use both pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures. Conclusions: nurses recognize the evidence that pain assessment is the rst step towards its effective control, and, in caring process children in their integrality, discomfort and pain experienced by children must be considered, aiming a better quality of life of these users.

publication date

  • January 1, 2014