Prescriptive theory of acute pain management in infants and children

Transforming acute pain management in children: A concept analysis to develop a new model of nurse, child and parent partnership

OBJECTIVES

To identify the core components of acute pain management in children, re-conceptualise the process and update the existing model to inform nursing research and clinical practice.

BACKGROUND

Acute pain in hospitalised children remains suboptimal, despite extensive nursing research and education. Improvements require a patient-centred approach and a conceptual model which includes the role of parents and partnership.

DESIGN

Using Rodgers' Evolutionary method, a concept analysis was conducted to define the core components for effective acute pain management in children.

METHODS

A scoping review of peer-reviewed literature from 1990 through 2020 was conducted using the terms "pain management," "pain control," "pain treatment," "multi modal," and "concept*". Abstracts from 85 articles were initially reviewed with 30 articles retained for analysis. Core concepts were identified, defined and synthesised. The PRISMA 2020 checklist was used.

RESULTS

A new model was developed from a synthesis of past work which incorporates the role of parents, the complexity of the process and definitions for shared decision-making. Trust, safety, collaborative communication and genuine partnership were identified as the core components for effective pain management in children, with the triadic relationship of nurses, patients and parents in genuine partnership foundational to the nursing process.

CONCLUSION

The new model for acute pain management in children transforms the nurse's role from gatekeeper to facilitator, shifting the process from nurse driven to patient-centred. The new collaborative model will promote shared decision-making for individualised pain assessments, interventions and evaluations.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Establishing the nurse, child, parent partnership as an essential foundation to pain management has the potential to expand pain assessments, optimise treatment selections, advancing clinical practice, patient outcomes and nursing science. No Patient or Public Contributions were included in this paper as this was a concept analysis pulling from past works.

[Theoretical perspectives on pediatric pain: A critical review]

Introduction : Theoretical perspectives are essential for guiding clinical practice and nursing research.Context : The understanding of pain has evolved considerably, leading to new theoretical models integrating the different components of pain (sensory-discriminative, affective-motivational, and cognitive).Objective : To conduct a critical review of the different theoretical perspectives on children's procedural pain.Method : To identify relevant theoretical literature, a literature search on pediatric pain was conducted on PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Google Scholar.Results : Six theoretical perspectives for procedural pediatric pain were identified. These theoretical perspectives are described, and their strengths and limitations are explained.Conclusion : This critical review will help nurses to choose a theory that will guide a research project and their clinical practice.

Development of middle-range theories in nursing

ABSTRACT Objective: To identify in the literature how Middle-Range Theories (MRT) are being developed in Nursing. Method: Integrative review on the databases Lilacs (Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences), Scopus, Cinahl (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Web of Science and PubMed portal, using the keywords middle range theory and nursing, as well its Portuguese correspondents (Lilacs), and the Boolean operator AND. The sample included 25 articles. Results: All articles presented concepts related to MRT. Most developed a synthesis picture. Some theories have formulated specific propositions, hypotheses, and names. Only 16 articles cited the methodological framework, while 22 used theories or models for theoretical foundation and 11 carried out literature reviews. Final considerations: The development of MRT included the presentation of fundamental concepts, synthesis, propositions, hypotheses and specific name. The MRT is recognized as a way of developing knowledge to guide the nursing practice.

Nursing Theory and Practice: Connecting the Dots

The authors propose connecting the dots among theory, practice, and research by adopting an expanded conceptual-theoretical-empirical structure of nursing knowledge and matrix process to guide the placement of nursing knowledge in a contextual whole. An overview of the theoretical journey of nursing knowledge development is contrasted with the journey from practice resulting in a theory-practice disconnect. Both approaches are united to present an integrated view of the dimensions of the knowledge development of nursing as a professional discipline.

Application of a virtual reality prototype for pain relief of pediatric burn in Taiwan

AIM

This study examines the usability and effectiveness of virtual reality in reducing pain in wound-care procedures for pediatric burn patients in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND

Virtual reality has continuously gained prominence in the medical arena, for instance, the telepresence for surgery, the management of mental health disorders and pain control of the paediatric burn. Notwithstanding an increased application of virtual reality in the medical arena in North America, there have been no studies investigating its use for paediatric burn patients in Asia.

METHODS

This descriptive study has two phases: Phase I: the development of a virtual reality prototype. Phase II: the implementation of the prototype to discern its usability and efficacy with paediatric burn patients at a local hospital.

RESULTS

The findings suggest that a significant difference is found in the children's reported pain, with or without the virtual reality intervention, over the three phases: before, during and after the dressing change. However, less pain was noted in the intervention group during and after the dressing change.

CONCLUSION

Adding to the existing clinical value of virtual reality identifies the nature of and different children's responses to pain with the use of virtual reality.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

This study is significant since it demonstrates a difference in the child's response to pain based on the nature of presence and distraction. Moreover, given the evidence that a decrease in anxiety was experienced after the dressing change with virtual reality intervention, timing of using the virtual reality intervention before the child develops conditioning anxiety and anticipated pain for the procedure would be of importance.

Is the sufficiency of discharge instructions related to children's postoperative pain at home after day surgery?

BACKGROUND

Parents are expected to alleviate their children's pain at home after day surgery, and the methods of pain alleviation should be taught to the parents by the hospital staff. However, the lack of information related to children's pain alleviation has been pointed out in several studies.

AIM

To describe the relationship between the parent-rated sufficiency of discharge instructions and the postoperative pain behaviours of 1- to 6-year-old children at home after day surgery.

METHOD

Questionnaires were handed out to mothers (n = 201) and fathers (n = 114) whose child had undergone minor day surgery in 10 Finnish central hospitals. Percentages and cross-tabulation with chi-square test were used in data analysis.

ETHICAL ISSUES

The ethical board in each hospital accepted the study. Parental participation was voluntary.

RESULTS

The parents considered the discharge instructions to be fairly sufficient, but criticized their content, method of providing and timing. Insufficiency of the instructions was related to children's postoperative pain behaviours at home.

STUDY LIMITATIONS

The fairly low response rate of this study prevents generalization of the findings to all Finnish parents.

CONCLUSIONS

Both the content, the methods of providing and the timing of discharge instruction need to be developed in children's day surgery. Special attention should be paid to written instructions, which should be given to the parents prior to the day of the child's surgery. Further research is needed to explore the skills of hospital staff in advising the parents and other factors explaining children's postoperative pain at home.

Parents' use of nonpharmacological methods to alleviate children's postoperative pain at home

STUDY BACKGROUND

Nonpharmacological methods are stated to be effective in alleviating children's postoperative pain when used as an adjuvant to analgesics. However, little is known about how these methods are used by parents at home.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to describe parents' use of nonpharmacological methods at home in 1-6-year-old children's pain alleviation after minor day surgery.

METHODS

Mothers (n = 201) and fathers (n = 114) whose child had undergone day surgery in 10 Finnish hospitals between October 2000 and September 2001 filled in a questionnaire including a Visual Analogue Scale, Parents' Postoperative Pain Measure and a subscale consisting of 25 items measuring parents' use of several nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods with their children at home after day surgery.

RESULTS

The most frequently used nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods were holding the child on the parent's lap, comforting the child and spending more time with them. Differences were found in mothers' and fathers' use of these methods. In addition, several methods were used more with girls than with boys. Significant relationships were found between parents' use of nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods and children's pain intensity and pain behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

Parents used several nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods with their children. However, their implementation seemed to be gender-related and limited to methods that were familiar to the parents from everyday life. The findings can be used in advising parents to use nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods at home after surgical procedures. Further research using experimental designs is needed into the effectiveness of these methods.