AORN journal
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Pain is a subjective experience that is affected by physical, emotional, and psychological factors, and reliable assessment of pain can be a challenge in the pediatric population. A quality improvement project was conducted at one Canadian health care facility to examine the effectiveness of the postoperative pain management strategy for children admitted to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Effective control of postoperative pain involves several preventive strategies that include preoperative analgesia, appropriate use of intraoperative analgesic techniques, and identification of children at risk for significant postoperative pain. Successful implementation of these techniques requires a multidisciplinary team approach involving the patient, the PACU nurses, the anesthesia care provider, and other surgical team members.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Treatment of cutaneous abscesses without postoperative dressing changes.
Treating cutaneous abscesses in children traditionally involves incision and drainage followed by moist dressing changes. This article addresses whether abscesses can safely heal with incision and drainage alone and daily warm water immersion. Sixteen children with cutaneous abscesses were treated without dressing changes. ⋯ There was one abscess recurrence. In comparison, among 19 children with cutaneous abscesses who received postoperative dressing changes, seven (37%) had significant pain, six (32%) required IV pain medications, and 11 (58%) were hospitalized. We determined that cutaneous abscesses may be treated with incision and drainage alone, thus avoiding pain and hospitalization for the patient.