FACTORS INFLUENCING NURSES PAIN ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTIONS IN CHILDREN

Research is lacking on factors influencing nurses' decision-making dir ected at the diagnosis of pain in children and its related interventio ns. This paper reports on two studies, namely a qualitative study and its replication, in which we explored factors influencing nurses' pain assessments and interventions in children. Those factors found to inf luence nurses' decisions were: medical diagnosis, child's expression, age, and parents, and the nurses' knowledge, experience, attitude and workload. Some of these factors seem to have more influence than other s. For example, the presence of a medical diagnosis seems to legitimat e being in pain. Furthermore, it is suggested that mainly vocal expres sions, especially crying, influence nurses' decisions to administer an algesics. Finally, nurses' negative views on non-narcotic analgesics w ere striking. In this paper, the results of both studies and their rel ationship to information reported in the literature are further elabor ated and discussed, and hypotheses on strength and direction of influe nce of factors on pain assessment and intervention are generated.