5 research outputs found
Children's pain assessment in Northeastern Thailand : perspectives of health professionals
Deficiencies in pain care within the developing world are starting to be realized. Children, in particular, are vulnerable,
as preliminary studies suggest that these children receive less pain treatment because of health professionals’ attitudes
and beliefs. This article reports on some of the findings of the first study in a larger program of research aimed
at improving pediatric pain care in Thailand. Improvements in practice are not simply the result of providing
evidenced-based knowledge, but a complex process that includes the context of care. Given that little is known about
the pain management experiences of Thai health professionals, including the challenges they face, we used focus
groups to capture their stories. Data revealed a need for both updating pain knowledge and for supporting an
increased use of appropriate practices. In this article, we focus on the issues concerning the assessment of pain resulting
from underrecognizing children’s pain and complex issues in communicating findings of children’s pain
Knowledge sharing for pediatric pain management via a web 2.0 framework
The experiential knowledge of pediatric health practitioners
encompasses vital insights into the clinical efficacy of diagnostic and therapeutic
methods for pediatric pain management. Yet, this knowledge is not readily
disseminated to other practitioners and translated into practice guidelines. We
argue that a peer-to-peer knowledge sharing mechanism can serve as a key change
agent to improve the attitudes, beliefs and methods for pediatric pain management.
We are using collaborative technologies, in the realm of Web 2.0, to develop a
web-based knowledge sharing medium for fostering a community of pediatric pain
practitioners that engages in collaborative learning and problem solving. We
present the design and use of a web portal featuring a discussion forum to facilitate
experiential knowledge sharing based on our LINKS knowledge sharing model