Parents' experiences of managing their child's postoperative pain at home: an exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

The results of this study may aid in the design of interventions that will support parents when managing their child's postoperative pain at home and thus improve children's experiences.

Clinical Practice Guideline: Tonsillectomy in Children (Update)

“…Longard et al found variability in parents' report of their children's pain following tonsillectomy, from mild to considerable pain and distress. 181 All parents administered some type of analgesic, including morphine, paracetamol, and ibuprofen, but there was variability in their medication use. 181 Patient and caregiver education and counseling on posttonsillectomy care should include verbal and written information prior to the day of surgery, and clinicians should reinforce postoperative instructions on the day of surgery.…”

“…181 All parents administered some type of analgesic, including morphine, paracetamol, and ibuprofen, but there was variability in their medication use. 181 Patient and caregiver education and counseling on posttonsillectomy care should include verbal and written information prior to the day of surgery, and clinicians should reinforce postoperative instructions on the day of surgery. Education interventions for patients and their caregivers should focus on increasing their knowledge on how to assess pain and achieving adequate pain management utilizing pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions.…”

Effects of postoperative pain management educational interventions on the outcomes of parents and their children who underwent an inpatient elective surgery: A randomized controlled trial

“…With the large number of children undergoing surgery each year, decreased lengths of hospital stay and the shortage of bedside nurses, parental participation in their children's postoperative care, such as assessing and managing pain, is expected (DeMaso & Bujoreanu, 2013;Lim, Mackey, Liam, & He, 2012;Ruiz, Rivers, & Pop, 2012). However, several qualitative studies (Lim et al, 2012;Longard, Twycross, Williams, Hong, & Chorney, 2016; P€ olkki, Pietil€ a, Vehvil€ ainen-Julkunen, Laukkala, & Ryhanen, 2002;Tait, Voepel-Lewis, Snyder, & Malviya, 2008;Valizadeh, Ahmadi, & Zarea, 2016) and a quantitative survey (Healy, 2013) from various countries widely reported that parents had inadequate information and knowledge regarding pain relief strategies for their children's postoperative pains. Parents' misconceptions on the tolerance, side effects and addiction of analgesics (Finley, Kristjansdottir, & Forgeron, 2009;Lim et al, 2012;Rony, Fortier, Chorney, Perret, & Kain, 2010) can lead to inadequate uses of pain medication for their children (Voepel-Lewis, Zikmund-Fisher, Smith, Zyzanski, & Tait, 2015), especially when conflicting symptoms like high pain and an adverse effect are present (Longard et al, 2016;Voepel-Lewis et al, 2015).…”

“…However, several qualitative studies (Lim et al, 2012;Longard, Twycross, Williams, Hong, & Chorney, 2016; P€ olkki, Pietil€ a, Vehvil€ ainen-Julkunen, Laukkala, & Ryhanen, 2002;Tait, Voepel-Lewis, Snyder, & Malviya, 2008;Valizadeh, Ahmadi, & Zarea, 2016) and a quantitative survey (Healy, 2013) from various countries widely reported that parents had inadequate information and knowledge regarding pain relief strategies for their children's postoperative pains. Parents' misconceptions on the tolerance, side effects and addiction of analgesics (Finley, Kristjansdottir, & Forgeron, 2009;Lim et al, 2012;Rony, Fortier, Chorney, Perret, & Kain, 2010) can lead to inadequate uses of pain medication for their children (Voepel-Lewis, Zikmund-Fisher, Smith, Zyzanski, & Tait, 2015), especially when conflicting symptoms like high pain and an adverse effect are present (Longard et al, 2016;Voepel-Lewis et al, 2015). This might be one of the reasons why children's postoperative pains are undertreated (Avian et al, 2016;Chieng et al, 2013;Ferrante et al, 2013;Twycross & Collins, 2013b).…”

Effects of a posttonsillectomy management program using a mobile instant messenger on parents’ knowledge and anxiety, and their children's compliance, bleeding, and pain

“…Since the inclusion of tonsillectomy in the diagnosis-related group payment system in Korea in 2012, the mean length of hospital stay for tonsillectomy patients has been shortened to approximately 3 days or less (National Health Insurance Service, 2015). Early discharge provides parents with more caregiver responsibilities for patient recovery and management of complications, and thus they may become anxious (Levin et al, 2019;Longard, Twycross, Williams, Hong, & Chorney, 2016;Newton & Sulman, 2018). Previous studies demonstrated that postoperative parent's anxiety predicts children's anxiety and can affect the outcomes in children (Pomicino et al, 2018;Rosenberg et al, 2017;Yun, Kim, & Jung, 2015).…”