Kontakt 2017, 19(3):e171-e177 | DOI: 10.1016/j.kontakt.2017.06.004

Nurses' perspective on procedural pain in childrenNursing - Original article

Anna Ovšonková^a,*, Karina Hudecová^b, Michaela Miertová^a, Juraj Čáp^a

^a Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Jesseniova lekárska fakulta v Martine, Ústav ošetrovateľstva, Bratislava, Slovenská republika

^b Masarykova univerzita v Brně, Lékařská fakulta, Brno, Česká republika

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine the perception of painful invasive procedures in child patients such as venipuncture and parenteral drug administration from a nurse's point of view.

Design: A quantitative cross-sectional study.

Methods: The sample consisted of 50 pediatric nurses with the mean age of 38.54 ± 10.55 years and an average clinical practice duration of 16.44 ± 12.05 years. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect empirical data. Based on the weighted arithmetic mean, descriptive statistics as well as evaluation of importance, feasibility of nursing interventions and nurses' competence/capability were used for the data analysis.

Results: The highest values were achieved in the importance of nursing intervention rate - with an average of 87.54 ± 7.24, the average of nurses' competence/capability rating was 78.5 ± 9.31, and the rate of feasibility of nursing intervention was on average 72.60 ± 11.71.
Before nursing intervention, nurses attributed the highest importance to "parenting education - nursing performance, preparing a child for medical procedures" (94.5%), which achieved the highest competence/capability (87.0%) and feasibility (80.5%). During the interventionist's procedure, nurses attributed the highest significance to "performing intervention with a good performance technique" (93.0%), which also achieved the highest competence/capability (90.5%). After nursing intervention, the nurses attributed the highest significance to "commending a child for being brave during intervention" (96.0%), "providing physical and psychological comfort for a child" (95.5%) and "parenting education for follow-up care" (95.5%). These nursing interventions also achieved the highest rating (both in terms of competence/capability and feasibility).

Conclusion: Despite the extensive increase in scientific knowledge, information, and effective evidence-based strategies for procedural pain management, their application to clinical pediatric practice is missing.

Keywords: Procedural pain; Invasive procedures; Venipuncture; Pediatrics; Child patient

Received: December 19, 2016; Revised: May 7, 2017; Accepted: June 27, 2017; Published: September 29, 2017  Show citation