Family Centered Pediatric Pain Management: A Global Nursing Education Strategy

Curry, Donna Miles

Monday, 18 November 2013: 2:05 PM

Donna Miles Curry, PhD, RN, PCNS-BC
College of Nursing & Health, Wright State University, Dayton, OH

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be about to identify cues parents use to determine if their child is in pain.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify interview questions for parents to promote pediatric pain management.

Purpose and Background: Family centered care recognizes that the optimal way to care for children is to make the family part of the health care team. Families, particularly parents, work with health care professionals to provide care for pediatric patients. As the constant in a child’s life, parents are in the best position to recognize pain in their child. As part of a global internet based course on pediatric pain management, nursing students from a U.S. and Swedish university engaged in an activity to learn more about how a parent decides if their child is in pain and what strategies they might use to deal with it.

Methods: Students were assigned to interview parents of children between the ages of 2 and 18 years related to a painful experience their child had experienced in the past 3 months. This structured interview was based on the Parent Post-Operative Pain Measure developed by Linda Franck and colleagues. Students then pooled findings for a group presentation which included possible explanations for differences or similarities in assessment cues, cultural and regional variations in parental management; and implications for pediatric nurses.

Conclusions: Students found the activity beneficial providing them insight on the role of parents in pain management of their children. They noted that their enhanced interview skills will facilitate communication between parents and healthcare professionals improving the management of pediatric pain.

See more of: Clinical Models to Improve Healthcare for Children
See more of: Oral Paper & Poster: Clinical Sessions