Pediatric nursing
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Do nurses manage fevers of children hospitalized for a febrile illness ritualistically or rationally? Nurses recorded temperatures more frequently during the first 8 hours in the ward with a mean frequency of 13.36 (SD = 4.76, range 5 to 24) during the first 24 hours following admission. In the majority of cases, there was a strong second hourly pattern of temperature monitoring according to the time of day (e.g., 0600 hr, 0800 hrs, 1000 hr). Seventy-six percent (51) of the children received at least one antipyretic. ⋯ The highest antipyretic administration occurred during the daytime, and the highest temperature recording occurred during the nighttime. Antipyretic administration and mean temperatures generally followed a similar pattern, except at 0800 and 1600 hours when antipyretic administration was high and mean temperatures low. This study revealed a need to further investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and decision-making criteria of nurses toward fever management.
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Comparative Study
Examining the validity, reliability, and preference of three pediatric pain measurement tools in African-American children.
To compare the validity, reliability, and preference of pain intensity measurement tools--the African-American Oucher Scale, the Wong-Baker FACES Scale, and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS)--in 100 African-American children between 3 and 18 years of age. ⋯ The study findings indicated that the FACES and African-American Oucher Scales are valid and reliable tools for measuring pain in children. Among the entire sample and each age group, the FACES scale was the most preferred scale.