Pain Management in Children - Essay Example

? Pain Management in Children Pain Management in Children Section C: Research Support Research base for the proposed solution One ofthe most important outcomes of evidence-based research is to ensure that healthcare professionals provide quality care to their patients. As earlier explained, it is essential to point out that management of pain in children, which nurses and healthcare providers regard as complicated and challenging, is one approach of providing quality care. Various researchers identify the importance of managing pain in children and provide various approaches towards effective pain management, control, and assessment in children. Savory and Bennett (2006) noted that effective management of pain starts with ensuring accuracy during the assessment and evaluation of pain in children. While the most fundamental approach of evaluating and assessing pain is through self-reporting, it is evident that children are not able to communicate the pain they experienced to their mothers and healthcare professionals. In effect, Savory and Bennett (2006) identifies the importance of effective training of nurses who took care of children in order to ensure that the nurses understood the behavioral and physiological approach towards assessment and evaluation of pain in children, which underlines the importance of a pain nurse who will be visiting the wards each day. On the other hand, Twycross (2010) identified the importance of a pain nurse visiting the pediatric ward and noted that the nurse provides support to other nurses in the ward to make decisions regarding the assessment and evaluation of pain in children. In effect, the pain nurse reduces stress associated with decision-making in regard to the intervention measures that the nurses use to asses, control, and manage pain in children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Pain Society (APS) (2001) noted that effective pain management should “involve families and tailor interventions to the individual child” (p.794). In this regard, tailoring the interventions to the individual child requires the parents input since the parents understand their children more than the healthcare practitioners understood these children under their care. In support of this proposition, Savory and Bennett (2006) noted that parents can provide nurses with their children’s “likes and dislikes, hobbies, and home environment” in order to tailor the intervention to the individual child. On the other hand, it is evident that parents understand the level of their child’s cognition and they have an existing trusting relationship with the children. In effect, parents play an important role of helping the nurses assess their children’s pain. Conversely, it is evident that parents provide the essential therapeutic touch during the process of pain management and control by comforting their children. In effect, this improves the management and control of pain in children. Internal and external validity Twycross (2011) study was qualitative in nature and involved carrying out a literature review using the British Nursing Index, CINAHL, and Medline in order to develop the literature. In effect, the findings of the research have both internal and external validity since the literature conducted used peer-reviewed articles published in the last fifteen years before the research study. In line with this, the study evaluated pain assessment procedures, pain control procedures, and pain management approaches used in children. Importantly, the pain management approaches that the research provided are applicable in all children regardless of their location or any other prevailing factors such as race, ethnicity, and their parents’ economic class. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Pain Society (APS) (2001) carried a similar research study to Twycross in terms of the research design. In line with this, the researchers engaged in carrying out the study investigated the issue of pain management in children. In line with this, the study relied on twenty-nine peer reviewed articles to develop the literature that formed the research study. In this case, the use of peer reviewed articles is important in establishing the credibility or the believability of the research study. Consequently, the credibility of the peer reviewed articles is proof that the research study has internal validity. Conversely, the research study’s findings and eventual recommendations can be transferred to the larger population. In this case, the proposed recommendations can be used by nurses to improve the practical approaches that they used to manage pain in children. In effect, the transferability of these recommendations to the entire population makes the research study externally valid. Savory and Bennett (2006) used descriptive research design to develop the recommendations for pain management in children. In this regard, the researchers use descriptive research design to develop their literature and identify approaches that can improve pain management among children. In this regard, the resources that the researchers used were credible, this effectively makes the research study internally valid. On the other hand, the findings from the research study can be applied to all children who were undergoing pain since the recommendations and findings are based on evidence from research study. Essential components of the research study All the research studies that support the proposed solution use a descriptive approach to propose approaches to manage pain in children in an efficient way, which makes their research studies qualitative in nature. In this case, the researchers develop their literature review by using peer reviewed articles in order to identify challenges that affect effective management of pain in children. It is crucial to point out that the literature review is an essential component of research since it addresses the research problem and provides the readers with an evaluation of the importance of the topics that the researchers sought to address. In this case, the reader is able to understand the inadequate research regarding pain management, which effectively contributes to inefficacy in management of pain in children. Conversely, the literature review identifies the approaches that nurses should use in order to ensure that they managed children pain in an approach that was effective. While these proposed interventions form the recommendations of the research study, which forms an important component of a research study, the recommendations are based on research carried out before by other researchers whose work was used in these three research study. 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., & Bennett, M. (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