Problematic Factors in the Treatment of Children - Essay Example

? Pain Management in Children Pain Management in Children Section A: Work-Setting Problem Pain management in children remains a challenge in the contemporary healthcare sector. In this case, healthcare providers face challenges regarding proper management of pain in children due to various factors ranging from psychological to medical factors. Savory (2006) noted that management of pain among children is challenging due to limitations in the healthcare sector with regard to drug licensing for children, the role of the cognitive stage in children, lack of adequate research on the issue, and challenges in assessing pain in children. Healthcare practitioners are ill-equipped to manage pain in children as a result of these factors. Despite these challenges, healthcare practitioners identify the important role that they should play in effective management of pain in children. Importantly, effective pain management influences a hospital’s HCAHPS scores with effective management promoting the quality of care offered in a healthcare facility. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Pain Society (APS) noted, acute pain in children “is associated with increased anxiety, avoidance, somatic symptoms, and increased parent distress” (p.793). Consequently, these factors underline the importance of implementing intervention programs that enhanced effective management of pain in children. Moreover, effective management of pain will not only improve the quality of care provided by a healthcare facility, but it will also restore the overall health of children. On the other hand, it is the responsibility of healthcare practitioners to eliminate or lessen pain and suffering among their patients when possible. Moreover, it is common knowledge that all children deserve to have the best practices that managed their pain in an approach that ensured effective prevention, assessment, and control of the pain. In order to ensure that the healthcare facility managed pain effectively, it is pertinent to come up with an intervention program that was effective in pain management. In line with this, the objective of the program will be the implementation of interventions that ensured the achievement of the best practices to manage, assess, and control pain in children using an approach that was clinically viable and based on research. In this case, the program will involve training nurses in the pediatric ward about detection, assessment, control, and effective management of pain in children. In addition, a pain nurse will be visiting the pediatric ward three times in a day. Moreover, nurses will involve parents in the process of pain management. A pain nurse who will be visiting the pediatric wards each day will be essential in providing support for nurses, which will effectively reduce the stress associated with pain management in children. The pain nurse will assess the approaches that the nurses used to assess, control, and manage pain in children and take corrective measures on the spot. Moreover, the pain nurse will hold biweekly meetings with nurses in the pediatric ward in order to brainstorm on the best practices and the approaches to use in order to improve the management of pain in the healthcare facility. On the other hand, parents of infant children, admitted to the healthcare facility, will be spending more time with the children than the nurses in the pediatric ward. In effect, giving them tips on the approaches to assess pain in their children will be crucial in complementing the intervention efforts of nurses in the facility. Section B: Proposed Solution The hospital’s pediatric ward is the workplace setting whereby the implementation of the proposed solution will take place. The nurses who provide care to children will go through an intensive training from the hospital’s pain nurse on the approaches to use in assessing, controlling, and managing pain in children. Since the hospital lacks a framework to manage pain in children effectively, the pain nurse will play a critical leading role in the interventions that the hospital implemented. Conversely, while the pain nurse previously visited the pediatric ward occasionally, the frequency of the number of times that she visited the ward will change in order to ensure effective implementation of the program. Furthermore, the hospital previously did not have an approach to involve parents in their children care, more so in pain management. In effect, parents will be equipped with approaches that they will be using to assess pain in their children, which will be in line with the needs of the individual child. Twycross (2010) identifies the importance of the pain nurse in visiting the wards each day to provide support to nurses during pain management. In line with this, ensuring that the frequency in the number of times that the pain nurse visited the ward increased was an effective way of reducing the stress levels associated with decision-making among nurses in the pediatric ward in relation to pain. On the other hand, Savory (2006) underlined the important role played by parents in pain management by noting that their familiarity with the likes and dislikes of children was essential in management and control of pain. In this regard, this familiarity is essential in ensuring that the management and control of pain was individualized in each child. The pain management program is practical since it does not require restructuring of the organizational structure for its effective implementation. In line with this, the program requires a pain nurse to head its implementation. Importantly, the hospital has a pain nurse whose experience in pain management spans about five years. On the other hand, the hospital leaders realize the importance of raising HCAHPS in the hospital. In line with this, the leaders recognize effective pain management interventions as essential in effective pain management, which is indicative of their support. All these factors make the program practically viable and feasible. The organizational culture in any hospital setting recognizes the importance of approaches that enhanced the provision of quality care in an organization. Conversely, it is evident that the community culture in the workplace setting and the community within which the hospital exists expects the hospital to implement measures that improved the quality of care. Consequently, this program seeks to improve the quality of care that the hospital provided by effective management of pain in children. On the other hand, the hospital’s resources will not be strained by this program, which makes it viable and feasible for implementation. References American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Pain Society (APS). (2001). The Assessment and Management of Acute Pain in Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Pediatrics, 108(3), 793 -797. Savory, J. (2006). Managing children's pain. Nursing Times, 102(9), n. pag. Retrieved from . Twycross, A. (2010). Managing pain in children: where to from here? Journal of Clinical Nursing, 19(15-16), 2090-2099. Read More