Chinese parent's use of nonpharmacological methods in children's postoperative pain relief

Parental participation in paediatric postoperative care is common in China. However, the knowledge is limited on what methods parents use to relieve their children's postoperative pain in hospital. The purpose of this study was to describe what nonpharmacological methods parents use to relieve their children's postoperative pain and factors related to this. A previously validated Scandinavian questionnaire survey was conducted in five provincial hospitals in Fujian, China, in 2004. Parents (n = 206) whose children had undergone operation were asked to complete questionnaires concerning nonpharmacological methods for children's pain relief. The response rate was 88%. Results show that the most commonly used methods by parents were emotional support strategies, helping with daily activities, distraction and imagery. Breathing technique was the method used least frequently. Fathers and parents who were older, more educated, employed and with earlier hospitalization experience with their children used pain alleviation methods more frequently than mothers and parents without these characteristics. Moreover, parents used some methods more frequently with boys, younger children, as well as children admitted for selective operations, with longer duration of hospitalization and with moderate or severe pain. Parents utilized various nonpharmacological methods for children's pain relief, especially those easy to use. This study may serve to focus healthcare providers' efforts on educating parents with respect to various nonpharmacological pain alleviation methods available for postoperative pain. Furthermore, this study provides parents an opportunity to be aware of their role in their children's pain management.     

Parents' management of children's pain at home after surgery

Purpose. We tested home pain management for children for effects on pain intensity, analgesics administered, satisfaction, and use of healthcare services over 3 post‐discharge days. Design and Methods. In this quasi‐experimental study with 108 children and their parents, we used the numeric rating scale or the Faces Pain Scale‐Revised, calculated percentages of analgesics administered, and asked questions about expectations, satisfaction, and services. Between‐group differences were tested with t‐tests and analysis of variance. Results: After home pain management for children, children reported moderate pain, and parents administered more analgesics on study days. Parents and children were satisfied; parents used few services. Written instructions and a brief interactive session were not sufficient to change parents' analgesic administration practices to relieve their children's pain. Practice Implications. Further research is needed to develop and test effective education interventions to facilitate relief of children's postoperative pain.     

术后疼痛管理新进展

术后疼痛管理的新理念包括多模式镇痛、超前镇痛和个体化镇痛,目前国外的术后疼痛管理完成了从以麻醉医生为主体到以护士为主体的转变,术后疼痛评估常态化、常规化,同时将个人数字助理（PDA)用于术后镇痛随访,使用无线远程镇痛监控系统进行术后疼痛管理。这些措施有效地提高了术后镇痛的效果,并实现了个体化的术后疼痛管理,提高了患者对术后镇痛的满意度,减少了医护人员的工作量,提高了工作效率。     

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.     

Poor communication and knowledge deficits: obstacles to effective management of children's postoperative pain

AIM OF THE STUDY: To explore the perceptions of nurses and parents of the management of postoperative pain in children. This paper focuses on issues of knowledge and communication. BACKGROUND: Nurses are the key health care professionals with responsibility for managing children's pain, however, nurses are not well supported educationally to manage the level of responsibility. RESULTS: Using matched interviews between 20 parents and 20 nurses many issues arose relating to the nurse/parent communication process. It was also clear that despite nurses' knowledge of pain management being deficient, they had expectations that required parents to have a level of knowledge they did not possess. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that nurses' poor communication with parents and nurses' knowledge deficits in relation to children's pain management create obstacles to effective pain management. These obstacles need to be addressed in order to improve the management of children's pain through better education of nurses and two way communication with parents.     

Decision-making during hospitalization: parents' and children's involvement

Background. Ethical duties of health professionals include the obligation to enhance their patients’ competence and ability to participate. Aims and objectives. To explore what kind of decisions and how these decisions were made during a child's hospitalization. Design. During a 9‐week period 24 children and their parents were followed during the course of events at the hospital. In total 135 hours of observations were made and analysed in two steps. Results. In most of the situations one or both parents were present with the child. Most decisions were of a medical nature, and commonly decisions were made in consultation with those affected by the decision. Although one or more persons protested in 83 of the 218 described situations, decisions were seldom reconsidered. Conclusions. The children and their parents were usually involved in the decision‐making process. Children and parents made few decisions themselves and even if they disagreed with the decision made, few decisions were reconsidered. Relevance to clinical practice. Having a voice in decision‐making helps the child to develop a sense of himself as a person and gives the parents a feeling that they are part of a team giving their child optimal care during hospitalization. Promoting children's rights is one of the most important roles for the children's nurse.     

规范化疼痛管理在肝胆外科术后患者疼痛控制中的应用

目的探讨规范化疼痛管理在肝胆外科术后患后疼痛控制中的应用效果。方法选取2017年11月—2018年4月住院行肝胆外科手术治疗的患者547例,分为对照组369例和观察组178例。对照组采用常规疼痛管理,观察组采取规范化疼痛管理。比较2组患者中重度静息疼痛的发生率、活动性疼痛评分等指标。结果观察组患者术后3天内中重度静息痛的发生率为20.22%,低于对照组的23.31%,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。术后6、12、24、48 h时观察组活动性疼痛评分低于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.01)。结论规范化疼痛管理能有效控制肝胆外手术患者术后疼痛程度,有利于患者的快速康复。     

Nursing documentation of postoperative pain management

Previous studies have shown that nursing documentation is often deficient in its recording of pain assessment and treatment. In Sweden, documentation of the care process, including assessment, is a legal obligation. The aim of this study was to describe nursing documentation of postoperative pain management and nurses' perceptions of the records in relation to current regulations and guidelines. The sample included nursing records of postoperative care on the second postoperative day from 172 patients and 63 Registered Nurses from surgical wards in a central county hospital in Sweden. The records were reviewed for content and comprehensiveness based on regulations and guidelines for postoperative pain management. Three different auditing instruments were used. The nurses were asked if the documentation concurred with current regulations and guidelines. The result showed that pain assessment was based mainly on patients' self-report, but less than 10% of the records contained notes on systematic assessment with a pain assessment instrument. Pain location was documented in 50% of the records and pain character in 12%. About 73% of the nurses reported that the documentation concurred with current regulations and guidelines. The findings indicate that significant flaws existed in nurses' recording of postoperative pain management, of which the nurses were not aware.     

A survey of Chinese nurses' guidance to parents in children's postoperative pain relief

Aims and objectives. The aim of the study was to describe parental guidance provided by Chinese nurses regarding non‐pharmacological methods in children's surgical pain relief as well as factors related to this. Background. Parental involvement in children's pain management has been acknowledged and encouraged in recent years. However, parents’ lack of related information has been pointed out and little is known about how parents are guided to use non‐pharmacological methods to relieve the pain. Methods. A previously validated European questionnaire survey was conducted in 2002. Structured questionnaires were distributed to all 187 nurses working at 12 surgical wards in five hospitals of Fujian Province, China. The average response rate was 98%. Results. The results show that nurses informed parents of the majority of cognitive information. The most commonly guided non‐pharmacological methods were distraction, positive reinforcement, comforting/reassurance, positioning and relaxation. Nurses’ background factors, including age, education, nursing position, professional work experience, number of their own children and experiences of earlier hospitalizations of their children, were significantly related to their perceptions regarding parental guidance. Conclusions. Chinese nurses provided much guidance to parents on non‐pharmacological methods. However, the results show that sensory information and physical methods were poorly conveyed to parents, which needs future attention to reinforce parents’ active role in pain management. Relevance to clinical practice. This study provides new information on Chinese nurses’ guiding parents to use non‐pharmacological methods in pain alleviation, thereby contributing to the body of knowledge on this subject. Furthermore, the study makes the respondents aware of the importance of involving parents in their child's pain management.     

Using mode and maximum values from the Numeric Rating Scale when evaluating postoperative pain management and recovery

Aims and objectives. To (1) examine the clinical applicability of compiled mode and maximum values from the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) by comparing the correspondence between patient perceptions of pain and pain values from monitoring records, as well as (2) to study the relationship between mode and maximum values and self‐assessed ability for early postoperative recovery. Background. Documentation of pain remains a problem despite recommendations of quality improvements. To examine the correlation between patient perceptions and documented pain therefore becomes important. Few have studied how pain affects recovery. Design. A quantitative cross‐sectional design was used in which 157 postoperative patients answered a questionnaire on pain intensity and recovery. A parallel examination of pain in monitoring records was conducted. Results. A total of 57% had a mode value calculated from records between 0 and 3 on postoperative day 1 and 69% on day 2. A maximum value between 4 and 10 was found in monitoring records for 73% on day 1 and for 67% on day 2. The correspondence between mode value from monitoring records and the patients’ retrospective perceptions was 88% for NRS 0–3 and 92% between maximum value and NRS 4–10. The correlation between documented pain and retrospectively identified pain for mode value of the NRS in all (0–10) was rather weak (r = 0·37), while maximum value had a stronger correlation (r = 0·53). Conclusion. Mode and maximum values could be used as outcome measures when evaluating postoperative pain. Pain affects recovery negatively, but more research is needed to strengthen the evidence for the use and clarify the link between pain and recovery. Relevance to clinical practice. International organisations emphasise the importance of improving pain assessment. Mode and maximum values are easy to compile for nurses and can, together with assessments of how experienced pain levels affect postoperative recovery, improve treatment of postoperative pain.     

Relationship between nurses' pain knowledge and pain management outcomes for their postoperative cardiac patients

Nurses' knowledge and perceived barriers related to pain management have been examined extensively. Nurses have evaluated their pain knowledge and management practices positively despite continuing evidence of inadequate pain management for patients. However, the relationship between nurses' stated knowledge and their pain management practices with their assigned surgical cardiac patients has not been reported. Therefore, nurses (n=94) from four cardiovascular units in three university-affiliated hospitals were interviewed along with 225 of their assigned patients. Data from patients, collected on the third day following their initial, uncomplicated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, were aggregated and linked with their assigned nurse to form 80 nurse-patient combinations. Nurses' knowledge scores were not significantly related to their patients' pain ratings or analgesia administered. Critical deficits in knowledge and misbeliefs about pain management were evident for all nurses. Patients reported moderate to severe pain but received only 47% of their prescribed analgesia. Patients' perceptions of their nurses as resources with their pain were not positive. Nurses' knowledge items explained 7% of variance in analgesia administered. Hospital sites varied significantly in analgesic practices and pain education for nurses. In summary, nurses' stated pain knowledge was not associated with their assigned patients' pain ratings or the amount of analgesia they received.     

Influence of expectations and actual pain experiences on satisfaction with postoperative pain management.

Experience of moderate or even severe postoperative pain has remained a clinical problem despite major progress in pain assessment and management. The aim of the present study was to assess any association between different pre- as well as postoperative factors, actual pain experiences in the postoperative period, and the overall patient satisfaction with the pain management. A random sample of surgical patients (n =191) responded to pre- and postoperative questionnaires detailing presence of preoperative baseline pain, expected and actually experienced postoperative pain levels and perceived adequacy of the pain relief provided. Patient satisfaction was assessed and factors of importance for satisfaction/dissatisfaction were analysed. It was found that 88% of the patients had previously undergone surgical procedures and that 53% of these patients claimed to have experienced moderate or severe pain at that time. Current pain prior to the present surgical procedure was reported by 61% of the patients. Most patients (91%) expected pain of moderate to severe intensity and 76% reported to have experienced such pain levels. In spite of this 81% of the patients claimed to be satisfied with the pain management while only 8% were dissatisfied. Sex, age, pre-operative expectation and actual experience of pain relief, and the overall pain experience were found to be factors associated with the probability of being satisfied/dissatisfied. Main characteristics of the dissatisfied patient were a younger age and female sex. It is concluded that patients commonly expect moderate to severe pain in the postoperative period and that the actual pain experience is mainly in accordance with the pre-operative expectations. Therefore, the validity of patient satisfaction as an optimal outcome variable in quality assurance processes of postoperative pain management may be questioned.