Acute Pain in Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Acute Pain in Children - Essay Example The intervention made to health institution through the initiative international health bodies has led to the creation of the pediatric analgesic trails, which aim at providing evidence pain management in child across the ages. In practice, assessments methods for pain intensity are critical in treating children of different ages. Acute pain is one of the common ailments in childhood and one that requires emergency response. In this paper, we will discuss the RCN guidelines on response given to acute pain in children. Acute Pain Assessment Tools In the last decade, a number of assessment tools required for testing the pain for appropriate ages have enabled documentation and quantitative and qualitative assessment of pain. The assessment method for children across the ages have undergone various changes, where issues affecting the new born to those children that are talking can be addressed. Currently, assessment methods include behavioral measures of pain. In this measurement method, the pediatrician would use behavior checklists, which has a list of pain effects that a child would encounter. The list has scores, which the pediatrician would check before assigning a given pain. In the assessment checklist, issues such as time, response to pain among others influence the decision that the pediatrician would make against a given pain. ... The RCN guideline has nine key areas that health professionals should observe when assessing acute pain in children. The provision in the guideline indicates when pain should be accessed, indictors, what the health professionals should do, as well as the parents of the child. The RCN guideline sought to achieve three objectives; first, create awareness about symptoms, which helps in recognition of pain, second, recommend methods for pain assessment, lastly, promote use of method in pain assessment. While many nurses claim they know when children are in pain, the guideline for pain assessment intended to clarify how best the nurses should respond to children pain. In addition, it sets standards, which nurses should uphold while assessing pain. Since nurses did not have standards of assessment, it is arguable that cases of misinterpretation of pain existed. Prior to the creation of the RCN guideline on pain assessment, critics observed that nurses interpreted pain differently. It was a rgued that parent and nurse observation and interpretation of pain is different. Most of the available research on pain assessment indicates that observation was the most common method used in the assessment. Although the method proves to be worthy, the behavior observed might not be the degree of pain. Other consideration included emotional response to pain as observed by their parents. Thus, settling on an inclusive procedure acceptable by parents and nurses was critical at this stage. It is also notable that consideration of the preexisting literature and research on pain were adequately done before the recommendation of the guideline. Since the introduction of pain assessment scale, observation made on its application has