Effects of Preoperative Parental Pain Management Educational Interventions on the Postoperative Pain Intensity and Duration of Small Children Who Underwent One-Day Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate effects of parental pain management educational interventions on postoperative pain assessment, intensity and duration of small children after a one-day-pediatric surgery. Methods: We conducted a prospective randomized, observational study of parental and nurse’s pain assessments in children. The Parents’ Postoperative Pain Management rating scale (PPPM), Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale (W-B) or the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) was used. The children’s pain was assessed by parents who were or were not (intervention vs. control groups) preoperatively educated about pain management postoperatively in the hospital and the first three days at home. Nurses who cared for the children postoperatively in the hospital, independently from the parents, assessed the children’s postoperative pain with W-B and NRS. Results: One hundred and fifty-two parents and their children were included in the study. Complete data were available for 142 parents and their children, with one parent, usually the mother (108 (76.1 %)), being involved at all stages of the study. No differences in children’s postoperative pain scores and analgesic use at home were found between the two parental groups (intervention and control groups). Parental pain scores after surgery was strongly positively correlated with pain duration, and analgesic use by their children at home. Pain intensity scores assessed by nurses in the hospital were lower compared to parental pain intensity scores. There was high inter-rater reliability between the PPPM, Wong-Baker, and NRS scales. Conclusions: No differences in postoperative pain in children were found between the intervention and control groups of parents. Parents gave higher scores of pain intensity in children than nurses did.