Neglect of Postoperative Pain Management in Children: A Qualitative Study Based on the Experiences of Parents

• Published in: Journal of pediatric nursing 2016-07, Vol.31 (4), p.439-448
• Main Authors: Valizadeh, Fateme, Ahmadi, Fazlollah, Zarea, Kourosh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdominal surgery; Adult; Analgesics, Non-Narcotic - therapeutic use; Barrier; Child; Child Abuse; Child neglect; Children; Children & youth; Content analysis; Emergency surgery; Emergency Treatment; Female; Health professionals; Hospitals; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Iran; Male; Middle Aged; Needs Assessment; Nurse's Role; Nursing; Pain management; Pain Management - standards; Pain Management - trends; Pain Measurement; Pain, Postoperative - diagnosis; Pain, Postoperative - drug therapy; Parent; Parent-Child Relations; Parental participation; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents - psychology; Physician's Role; Postoperative Care - standards; Postoperative Care - trends; Postoperative pain; Postoperative pain management; Postoperative period; Qualitative Research; Sampling; Severity of Illness Index; Structured interviews; Surgery; Surgical Procedures, Operative - adverse effects; Surgical Procedures, Operative - methods; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0882-5963; 1532-8449
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pedn.2016.02.012

Identifying parents’ experiences of barriers to optimal postoperative pain management in children. This qualitative-content analysis study was conducted with 16 parents whose school-age children had undergone emergency abdominal surgery in university hospitals of Ahvaz, southern Iran. A purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. The semi-structured interviews with all of the participants were recorded, transcribed, and analysed. After data analysis, neglect emerged as the main theme. This neglect consisted of three categories including the healthcare system’s disregard, insufficient sensitivity of the healthcare providers, and hesitance or delays of parents and children in asking for care. The optimal management of children’s postoperative pain requires the provision of relevant infrastructures by the healthcare system, responsible performance of the health professionals beyond the routine, and active and informed participation of both parents and children. •Healthcare system’ indifference to the children’s companion needs may decrease the family's power to provide optimal postoperative pain care.•The healthcare providers are less preventive in managing postoperative pain.•It seems that the non-pharmacological management of postoperative pain has been delegated to the parents without enough education.•Sometimes parents are hesitant to report their children's pain or use their parental experiences for postoperative pain management.•Children's self-censorship of postoperative pain is not always due to fear of injection, sometimes they want to support their parents.