International journal of nursing studies
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Comparative Study
Postoperative pain: a comparison of adolescent inpatient and day patient experiences.
This three-year study investigated the experience of postoperative pain and its management following elective surgery in an adolescent population aged 12-18 years (n=351) in 5 NHS trusts. In addition to the adolescents, one parent of each adolescent and a range of health professionals including surgeons, anaesthetists and registered nurses were interviewed concerning their views on acute pain in adolescent patients. ⋯ Data were collected pre-operatively and postoperatively (days 1 and 3) using semi-structured interviews, telephone interviews, self-completion questionnaires and standardised tools to measure pain intensity (Adolescent Pediatric Pain Tool), psychological adjustment to adolescence (Offer Self-Image Questionnaire-Revised) and emotional state (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Day cases were discharged on the day of surgery while most inpatients were discharged on the first postoperative day.
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Comparative Study
Recognising pain in older adults living in sheltered accommodation: the views of nurses and older adults.
Sixty-six randomly selected older adults and their contact nurses participated in interviews based on standardised assessments of pain and open-ended questions focusing how pain was expressed and recognised. The sample included older adults with normal as well as cognitively impaired function. Seventy-nine percent of older adults with normal cognition were often in pain. ⋯ Contact nurses of cognitively impaired older adults judged immobility as the source of pain, that it was possible to see when the person was in pain and that pain was expressed by paralinguistic and body language more often than contact nurses of cognitively healthy older adults. Characteristics of nurses and older adults could facilitate or hinder pain recognition. The findings indicate a need for reflective discussions in the staff group focusing on how to perform systematic assessments of verbal and non-verbal expressions and of hindrances and facilitators for recognising pain in older adults.