Pediatric Nurses’ Knowledge and Practices Related Pain Management in Children with Cognitive Impairment

Abstract

This study was conducted with a cross-sectional design to determine pediatric nurses' knowledge and practices related to pain management in children with cognitive impairment. The sample of the study consisted of 65 pediatric nurses working in two different hospitals in one city. After obtaining institutionals, ethics committee permissions, and written consent from participants, the data were collected using a ıntroductory characteristics form and a questionnaire to determine knowledge and practices regarding pain management in children with cognitive impairment. Descraiptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used for data analyses. 
 The majority of the pediatric nurses reported the parameters used to assess pain among children with cognitive impairment as facial expressions and behavioral responses. Only 16.9% of nurses evaluated pain using a scale. In terms of reducing the pain of children with cognitive impairment, 55.4%, 35.4% of nurses reported that they used nonpharmacological, pharmacological methods, respectively, and 9.2% no specific methods were used in the clinic where they worked. The commonly used nonpharmacological methods were distraction, massage, cold application, etc. A significant difference was found in the use of nonpharmacological methods with respect to gender and previous training on pain management (p