Issues in comprehensive pediatric nursing
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Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs · Oct 1995
Pediatric nurses' knowledge and practice related to infant pain.
A convenience sample of 181 registered nurses completed questionnaires about their knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice related to infant pain. The majority of respondents thought infants felt pain with the same intensity as adults and were comfortable administering narcotic and nonnarcotic pain medications. The most frequently identified infant pain cues were: crying, irritability, and inability to be consoled. ⋯ There were no associations for noncritical versus critical care unit assignment or participation in postlicensure education about pain with number of assessment cues. There were no associations for pain severity or noncritical versus critical care unit assignment with pain management strategies. Until the research base about management of infant pain is expanded, nurses should continue to use and evaluate a variety of pain management interventions on a case-by-case basis.
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Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs · Apr 1995
Nurses' use of nonpharmacologic techniques with hospitalized children.
Pediatric nurses are often present with children who are in discomfort or pain, and are essential to successful management of this pain. Selected nonpharmacologic techniques are effective in reducing children's discomfort and pain, and thus have value in nursing practice. ⋯ Content analysis indicated that (a) nurses' lack of time and heavy workload impede their use of nonpharmacologic techniques; (b) nurses' most frequent use of nonpharmacologic techniques is with children undergoing painful procedures; and (c) nurses perceive parents as helpful in implementing nonpharmacologic techniques with children. Implications for nursing practice, education, and research are discussed.
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Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs · Jan 1995
Comparative StudyFamily functioning following pediatric intensive care unit hospitalization.
The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to compare two groups of families on measures of current family functioning and to explore factors related to current family functioning. Surveys were mailed to parents from families (n = 27) whose child aged 1 to 5 years had been hospitalized in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and parents from families (n = 25) whose child aged 1 to 5 years had been hospitalized on a general care unit (GCU) in a large Midwestern children's hospital within 3 years of their child's discharge. Time since discharge ranged from 16 to 158 weeks (M = 84.9, SD = 36.0). ⋯ Length of stay and PRISM scores were significant predictors of fathers' cohesion ratings; PRISM and location (PICU vs. GCU) were significant predictors of mothers' adaptability ratings. The findings suggest that it is not a PICU admission alone that has negative effects on the family; rather, the additive effects of how sick the child is on admission, where the child is hospitalized, and how long the child stays in the hospital may have negative consequences for the family.
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Pain assessments using three different observational pain assessment tools--the Post Operative Pain Score (POPS), the Nursing Assessment of Pain Intensity (NAPI), and the Pain Rating Scale (PRS)--were made on 98 preverbal children following surgery in an attempt to establish the reliability and validity of the three tools. Two observers (raters) scored pain intensity using each of the three instruments before and after administration of an analgesic. ⋯ The POPS and NAPI had internal consistency reliability alphas ranging from .79 to .88 for the POPS and .59 to .77 for the NAPI. Item analyses suggested specific revisions of the tools that might increase their reliability.
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Issues Compr Pediatr Nurs · Apr 1994
Who's moving the children? Pediatric transport: selection, education, and management.
Moving patients through the maze of available services within the health care system is, at best, complex. When the patient is a child and that child is seriously ill, the situation progresses from complex to critical. The expeditious and safe transport of a seriously ill child is generally assigned to a specifically designated and trained group of health care professionals. ⋯ Representatives of 56 geographical and administratively diverse institutions responded to a structured telephone interview. Findings revealed two functionally distinct types of transport teams: dedicated (N = 38) and unit based (N = 18). Included in the data obtained were types and numbers of patients transported, average response time and distance, personnel composition, and educational and experiential standards for staff and management.