Parent involvement in children's pain care: views of parents and nurses

Aim of the study. This study investigated the views of parents and nurses about the involvement of parents in the management of their child’s pain during the first 48 hours after surgery. Background. Children’s pain management has been found to be problematic and in need of improvement. Nurses are the key health care professionals with responsibility for managing children’s pain. Parents can make important contributions to assessment and management of their child’s pain. Methods. Using a phenomenological approach, nurses and parents were interviewed about their perceptions of parent involvement in pain management. Findings. The findings indicated that parental involvement in their child’s pain management is superficial and limited in nature. Parents described a passive role in relation to their child’s pain care and conveyed feelings of frustration. Only a minority of parents expressed satisfaction with their child’s pain care. Nurses perceived that there was adequate involvement of parents and adequate pain management for children. Conclusions. These findings may be somewhat explained by differing views and a lack of effective communication between parents and nurses. There is a clear need for nurses to discuss parent involvement with parents and negotiate roles in relation to pain management.</br

Survey of undergraduate pain curricula for healthcare professionals in the United Kingdom

The prevalence and burden of pain has long been reported as problematic. Comprehensive pain education in undergraduate programmes is essential for developing knowledgeable, skilled and effective healthcare professionals. This cross-sectional survey describes the nature, content and learning strategies for pain curricula in undergraduate healthcare programmes in major universities in the United Kingdom (UK). Document analysis also highlighted gaps in pain-related standards from professional regulators and a higher education quality assurance body. The sample consisted of 19 higher education institutions delivering 108 programmes across dentistry, medicine, midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physiotherapy and veterinary science. Seventy-four (68.5%) questionnaires were returned averaging 12.0 h of pain content with physiotherapy and veterinary science students receiving the highest input. Pain education accounted for less than 1% of programme hours for some disciplines. Traditional teaching methods dominated (e.g. lectures 87.8%) and only two programmes had fully implemented the International Association for the Study of Pain's (IASP) curricula. Minimal pain-related standards were found from professional regulators and the quality assurance documents. Pain education is variable across and within disciplines and interprofessional learning is minimal. Published curricula for pain education have been available for over 20 years but are rarely employed and pain is not a core part of regulatory and quality assurance standards for health professions. The hours of pain education is woefully inadequate given the prevalence and burden of pain. Recommendations include the introduction of pain-related educational standards across all professions, greater integration of pain content in undergraduate programmes and interprofessional approaches to the topic

Mensuração e avaliação da dor pós-operatória: uma breve revisão Medición y evaliación del dolor postquirúrgico: una breve revisión Postoperative pain measurement and assessment: a brief review

Mensurar a dor tem sido grande desafio para aqueles que almejam controlar adequadamente tão complexa experiência. Instrumentos padronizados, que consideram o relato subjetivo do próprio paciente, têm sido elaborados, buscando facilitar tal tarefa. Nesse artigo revisamos os instrumentos mais utilizados para a mensuração da dor pós-operatória, apontando para algumas de suas vantagens e desvantagens. Enfatizamos a necessidade de pesquisas específicas que enfoquem a mensuração da dor no meio cirúrgico, considerando a multidimensionalidade da experiência dolorosa.<br>Mensurar el dolor ha sido gran desafío para aquellos que desean controlar adecuadamente tan compleja experiencia. Instrumentos estandenizados, que consideran el relato subjetivo del própio paciente han sido elaborados buscando facilitar tal tarea. En ese artículo revisamos los instrumentos más utilizados para la mensuración del dolor postquirúrgico, apuntando hacia algumas de sus ventajas y desvantajas. Enfatizamos la necesidad de investigaciones específicas que focalicen la mensuración del dolor en el medio quirúrgico, considerando la multidimensionalidad de la experiencia dolorosa.<br>How to measure pain is a great challenge to those who desire to control adequately such a complex experience. Standardized instruments that take into consideration the patient's own account, have been developed in order to make such a task easier. In this article we carry out a revision of the instruments used mostly for measuring postoperative pain, and we point out some of the advantages and disadvantages. We emphasize the need for specific research focusing on the measurement of surgical pain, taking into consideration the multiple dimensions of a painful experience