Pediatric Vaccine Pain Management & Perceptions of Caregivers and Nursing Staff: An Evidence-Based Project

Background: In an age with many diseases controlled through immunization and herd immunity, the significance of immunization can wane in public memory. In children, injection pain is an obstacle to vaccination and can cause anxiety around medical visits, healthcare avoidance, delayed immunizations, and needle fear (McMurty et al., 2015; Shah & Sui, 2019; Taddio et al., 2022). Evidence-based vaccine pain relief techniques are described in the literature (Shah et al., 2009; Wu et al., 2022; Taddio et al., 2015), yet their use in practice is minimal (Taddio et al., 2022). Local Problem: An evaluation of a pediatric clinic revealed nurses infrequently used pain management methods during immunization. This assessment indicated the need for education and the adoption of evidence-based vaccine pain management techniques. Project goals included educating staff on the effectiveness of evidence-based vaccine pain management and improving the caregiver\u27s perception of the immunization procedure. Methods: The nursing staff offered vaccine pain relief methods to all pediatric patients receiving immunizations; their caregivers and nurses then provided feedback on their perceptions of the techniques. Interventions: Vaccine pain management methods included sucrose use (Stevens et al., 2018; Taddio et al., 2015), distraction (Bergomi et al., 2018; Canbulat et al., 2014), vaccine education, parental presence, physical positioning, and the most painful injection being given last (Taddio et al., 2015). Results: Sixty-four parents and nine pediatric nurses completed post-intervention questionnaires. 60% of caregivers reported their child\u27s vaccine experience was improved with vaccine pain management, while 100% of nursing staff found the vaccine pain management effective. Conclusions: Based on these results, it is possible that pain management techniques improve the caregiver’s immunization experience. Pediatric providers, therefore, should encourage these effective and compassionate interventions to support timely immunization and overcome pain as a barrier to immunizations. Future projects should investigate vaccine pain management barriers and how to increase their use in practice

Number 2 The Journal of School Nursing

ABSTRACT: School nurses often find themselves developing health-related programs for children and adolescents. One way to create compelling and interesting programs that meet the needs of students is to include them in the planning, development, and evaluation of such programs through focus groups. Children provide a perspective about their particular needs, interests, and understandings that cannot be obtained from adults or health care professionals. When children take part in program planning, the programs become more appealing to children because of the feedback from their perspective. This article describes ways focus groups can be used to examine the effectiveness and usability of health-related programs. Included is a discussion of the pros and cons of using focus groups with school-age children for planning and evaluating programs and guidelines for conducting focus groups

Criminal Orders of Protection for Domestic Violence: Associated Revictimization, Mental Health, and Well-being Among Victims

All states issue criminal protection orders (POs) with the intention of improving the lives of victims of domestic violence (DV); however, there is a dearth of research examining their impact. This study aims to examine the impact of criminal POs with different levels of restrictions on victims’ revictimization, mental health, and well-being. A cross-sectional design was used to collect data regarding two time points during one interview among a sample of 298 victims in a criminal DV case. Across the three levels of PO restrictions (limited, residential stay-away, and full no-contact), participants reported significantly reduced physical, sexual, and psychological DV; unwanted pursuit behavior; post-traumatic stress and depression symptom severity; and perceived stress and fear of revictimization. The amount of change varied between groups for revictimization variables. Full no-contact restrictions were associated with the greatest decreases in revictimization. However, findings must be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity in victims’ experiences; some victims experienced an increase in revictimization and mental health problems and a decrease in well-being. Findings suggest that the court, through criminal POs, may be a system through which to reach victims who might not otherwise connect with services to promote safety and resilience

Developing an Interactive Story for Children with Asthma

Despite advancements in asthma treatment and diagnosis, asthma still remains the number 1 cause for hospitalizations in school-aged children. This usability study aimed to develop a child-friendly interactive narrative, Okay with Asthma v2.0, based on the Biopsychosocial Family Model using feedback from children. This fun and kid-friendly program encourages children to manage their own asthma with the help of peers, families, communities, and health care services. With these support structures, children can identify and avoid triggers, monitor their asthma, manage their condition with medications based on an action plan, and learn to live happily with asthma