Nurses' perspective on procedural pain in children

Abstract

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 selfdesigned 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.