Division of Nursing, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore.
J Clin Nurs. 2013 Apr;22(7-8):958-68. doi: 10.1111/jocn.12052. Epub 2013 Jan 12.
To explore postoperative pain management experiences among school-aged children.
Ineffective postoperative pain management among children has been commonly reported. School-aged children are able to evaluate how their pain is managed and what their preferred strategies are. Most studies in pain management have adopted quantitative methods and have overlooked children's pain management experiences.
This is a qualitative study using face-to-face interviews.
Data were collected from 15 school-aged children admitted to a tertiary hospital in Singapore by in-depth interviews conducted between November 2010 and January 2011. Data were analysed by thematic analysis.
Five themes were identified: children's self-directed actions to relieve their postoperative pain (e.g. using cognitive-behavioural methods of distraction and imagery, physical method of positioning, sleeping and drinking, seeking other people's help by informing parents and crying and using pain medications); children's perceptions of actions parents take for their postoperative pain relief (assessing pain, administering pain medications, using various cognitive-behavioural, physical methods and emotional support strategies, assisting in activities and alerting health professionals); children's perception of actions nurses take for their postoperative pain relief (administering medication, using cognitive-behavioural methods, emotional support strategies and helping with activities of daily living) and suggestions for parents (using distraction and presence) and nurses (administering medications, distraction and positioning) for their postoperative pain relief improvement.
This study contributed to the existing knowledge about children's postoperative pain management based on their own experiences. Children, their parents and nurses used various strategies, including pain medication and non-pharmacological methods, especially distraction, for children's postoperative pain relief.
This study provides evidence for health care professionals to consider using more pain relief strategies when caring for children postoperatively and provide guidance for children to practice these strategies.
探讨学龄儿童术后疼痛管理体验。
儿童术后疼痛管理效果不佳的情况较为常见。学龄儿童能够评估他们的疼痛管理情况以及他们更喜欢的策略。大多数疼痛管理研究都采用了定量方法，而忽略了儿童的疼痛管理体验。
这是一项采用面对面访谈的定性研究。
2010 年 11 月至 2011 年 1 月期间，通过深入访谈，从新加坡一家三级医院收治的 15 名学龄儿童中收集数据。采用主题分析方法进行数据分析。
确定了 5 个主题：儿童自行缓解术后疼痛的行为（例如使用认知行为分散注意力和意象、物理体位、睡觉和饮水、告知父母寻求他人帮助和哭泣以及使用止痛药）；儿童对父母缓解术后疼痛行为的看法（评估疼痛、给予止痛药、使用各种认知行为、物理方法和情感支持策略、协助日常活动和提醒医务人员）；儿童对护士缓解术后疼痛行为的看法（给予药物、使用认知行为方法、情感支持策略和帮助日常生活活动）以及对父母（使用分散注意力和陪伴）和护士（给予药物、分散注意力和体位）改善术后疼痛缓解的建议。
本研究根据儿童自身的经验，为儿童术后疼痛管理的现有知识做出了贡献。儿童、其父母和护士使用了各种策略，包括疼痛药物和非药物方法，特别是分散注意力，以缓解儿童术后疼痛。
本研究为医护人员在术后照顾儿童时提供了更多缓解疼痛策略的依据，并为儿童提供了练习这些策略的指导。
