GUIDELINE TO PREVENT,
RELIEVE OR STOP PAIN IN CHILDREN WITH ACUTE OR CHRONICAL PAIN BY NURSING
INTERVENTIONS
Velden C. van
Professional council, Dutch Association of Pediatric Nurses, Utrecht,
the Netherlands
In the
last decade, great progress has been made in our under-standing and
management of pain. Nevertheless, there are still children, who suffer pain
during their stay in hospital or as a result of medical procedures, due to
insufficient knowledge by pediatric nurses about pain and its management.
The Dutch Association of Pediatric Nurses
(DAPN) has made a guideline to prevent, relieve or stop pain.
This guideline outlines:
l
the development of pain, based on Loeser's model:
nociception, perception, experience and behaviour;
l
symptomatic behaviour of a child with pain, from
birth to adolescence;
l
observation and assessment tools;
l
the factors that influence pain, such as fysical,
psychological, social and spiritual, all based on the Care Model of the
DAPN;
l
nursing interventions to prevent, relieve or stop
pain such as preparation, relaxation, distraction, and other techniques
like cutaneous stimulation.
The guideline also contains a protocol,
outlining the steps the nurse should take when caring for a child that is
in pain, or when you suspect that the child is in pain. This protocol
suggests the use of the comprehensive guideline.