Quiz 1: Pain and Emergency Care/Management Flashcards
Pain Assessment Tools: Requirements
- Need to use appropriate tool for developmental level.
- Use the same tool each time assessing pain: decreases confusion and increases consistency.
Pain Assessment Tools include
- FLACC (one of the most common)**
- FACES Pain Rating Scale (one of the most common)**
- Adolescent and Pediatric Pain Tool (APPT)
- CRIES Pain Scale
- COMFORT Behavior Scale
- Numeric Rating Scale
- The Oucher
- Poker Chip Tool
- Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
Adolescent and Pediatric Pain Tool
- Three-part tool composed of a body outline, an intensity scale and a pain descriptor word list.
- Used in 8-17 years
CRIES Pain Scale
Five behavioral categories:
- Crying
- Requires oxygen for SaO2 <95%
- Increased vital signs
- Expression
- Sleepless
0-2 for each with total score from 0-10. A higher score indicates greater pain or distress.
Used in neonates 0-6 months
Comfort Behavior Scale
Six categories are score:
- Alertness
- Calmness/Agitation
- Respiratory response (if on ventilator) or Crying (if breathing spontaneously)
- Physical Movement
- Muscle Tone
- Facial Tension
1-5 for each category with total score from 6-30.
A higher score indicates greater pain or distress.
Used in infants and children in critical care settings.
Pain in a neonate/infant
- Have immature control of nervous system
- May have a higher pain intensity -> d/t having lower pain threshold.
What can indicate pain in a neonate/newborn?
- Facial expressions -> considered most consistent cue
- Different type or duration of cry -> higher pitched, tense, and harsh. (Look toward the parent to help differentiate between the child’s cry’s)
- Rapid change in behavior
- Infants may thrash extremities and exhibit tremors, pull away from nurse.
Pain in toddlers
- Generalized site association -> child will most likely say “it’s my arm” instead of pointing to exact location.
- Use words the child is familiar with -> ask the parents what word is used in the house to describe hurting.
What can indicate pain in toddlers?
- Can be “ouch”, “hurt”, or “owie”
- May delay procedures
- May run from nurse
- May show regression** -> very common!
Pain in preschoolers
- Relate to the present ONLY** -> can only tell what is going on right here and right now -> can intensify pain experience
- Think pain will magically go away**
- May think pain is a punishment -> they are constantly hearing no at this age because they are learning consequences**
- Fear body mutilation** (i.e if they get cut and bleeding they think all of their blood will drain from their bodies and having a simple bandaid will help relieve this feeling.
- May struggle to try to escape procedures
Preschoolers tend to be
Egocentric
Pain in school age children
- Can describe, locate and quantify pain.
- May overreact to injury/illness -> fears bodily injury and has awareness of death.
- May attempt to bargain or procrastinate to delay painful procedures (you are taught how to get your way at this age)**
What can indicate pain in a school-age child?
Nonverbal cues -> stiff body posture, may withdraw or quietly sob.
Pain in adolescents
- Can describe pain and quantify pain intensity
- Can express feelings about their pain but only related to what they want the outcome to be.
- Egocentric: may tend to think others focus on their behaviors and may suppress manifestations of pain.
- Expect you to know when they need medication, even if not asked (expects you to read their minds)
- Have fewer outward signs of pain
- May not admit to pain if it will ruin their plans with peers such as going out over the weekend.
FLACC Scale
Five behavioral categories
- Faces
- Legs
- Activity
- Cry
- Consolability
Each score from 0-2, resulting in a total score of 0-10.
A higher score indicates higher pain or distress.
Used in infants, proverbial/nonverbal children
Practice How to Do FLACC Scoring
..
FACES Pain Rating Scale
- Six cartoon faces with neutral to gradually increasing painful expressions, corresponding to an analog scale with words ranging from a happy face (0; No Hurt) to a crying face (5 or 10; Hurts worst) Accommodates a 0-5 or 0-10 system.
- Used in children 3 years of age and older.
Numeric Rating Scale is used in children of what ages
9 years and older
The Oucher
- A poster with a 0-100 scale for older children and a six picture photographic scale for younger children who cannot count to 100.
- 0 is no pain and 100 is the greatest pain.
- Five versions available: Caucasian/white, Asian (boy or girl), First Nations (boy or girl), Hispanic and African-American/black.
- Used in children 3-12 years of age.
Poker Chip Tool
- Four poker chips are used, with each chip representing a piece of hurt.
- One poker chip represents a little hurt, and four chips represent the most hurt the child could have.
- Used in children 4-12 years of age.
Visual Analog Scale
- Usually a 10-cm line with one end representing “no pain” and the opposite end “the worst pain”
- Used in children 7-18 years of age.
Non-pharmacological Interventions for Pain in Children
- Parental support
- Kangaroo care -> skin to skin contact -> a lot in NICU
- Pacifier/Oral sucrose -> need order for sucrose
- Rocking
- Distraction -> do not discount pain
- Play
- Guided Imagery
- Child Life Specialist
- Muscle relaxation, holding, massage, warm or compress.
Pharmacological Interventions for Pain in Children: Methods
-Analgesic
-PO
-Rectal
-Intranasal
-Topical
-Transdermal
-IV, IM, SQ
-Epidural
BEST ROUTE IS ORAL; BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT THEY ARE GOING HOME WITH
Pharmacological Pain Interventions: What do you need to monitor?
- Monitor temperature after medication.
- For opioids, monitor respiratory and pulse ox.
What drugs are used to treat pain in children?
- Acetaminophen
- Aspirin
- NSAIDs: Ibuprofen, Ketorolac
- Opioids: Morphine, Codeine
Pain Relief in Children: Acetaminophen
- Most commonly used for any age group.
- Used for analgesic for mild-moderate pain and fevers.
- Can give IV Tylenol for fever but don’t want to do rectal. PO is always better.
Overdose of acetaminophen can lead to
Hepatic damage
Pain Relief in Children: Aspirin
Not recommended for kids d/t Reye’s Syndrome.
Pain Relief in Children: NSAIDs
Preferred drugs to treat bone and inflammatory pain associated with bone injuries, arthritis and cancer.
Adverse effects of opioids
- Constipation
- Pruritus
- N/V
- Cough suppression
- Urinary retention
- Can produce respiratory depression/sedation -> monitor respiratory and put on pulse ox.
Pain Relief in Children: Morphine
- Naloxone is antidote.
- Reaches peak 10-20 minutes after IV administration (1 hour after oral)
- Max RR depression can occur 7 minutes after IV administration -> give Naloxone.
General guidelines when dealing with emergencies
- Communicate calm confidence
- Establish a trusting relationship
- Encourage the caregivers to stay with child
- Tell the truth
- Provide incentives and rewards
- Assess the child’s unspoken thoughts/feelings
- Coping Mechanisms
Emergency Care General Guidelines: Establish a trusting relationship
- Make eye contact
- Check back with family -> provide frequent updates. If the caregivers feel confident they are being informed, they are less likely to make demands for additional attention and information.
- Provide comfort measures.
Emergency Care General Guidelines: Tell the truth
- Especially about the condition of the child.
- DO NOT tell them “everything is going to be okay.”
- You can say “I don’t know but we are doing everything that we can.”
- For the child, give them information of what will occur by describing sensations -> “this will feel cold on your arm”
Emergency Care General Guidelines: Provide incentives and rewards
- I.e stickers. (But NEVER food)
- Developmentally a rewards for doing a good job.
Strategies when communicating if emotional crisis of caregiver doesn’t involve violent or abusive behavior:
- Speak in simple sentences, use no more than 5 words with no longer than -5 letters → “Let’s sit down over here”
- Encourage to move to quiet place
- Encourage to express feelings
- Set limits, avoid yes/no responses.
Working with children in emergencies: Infants
- Allow the use of a pacifier.
- Use a quiet, soothing voice.
- Touch, rock, or cuddle the infant. Holding the infant securely or swaddling a young infant can also be comforting.
- Keep the infant warm; if the infant must be left undressed, use warming lights to ensure a comfortable temperature.
- Allay parents’ fears so they will not be communicated to the infant.
- Remember that infants feel pain
Working with children in emergencies: Toddlers
- Give treatments and perform procedures with the toddler sitting up on the stretcher or examining table or on the parent’s lap.
- Perform the most distressing or intrusive parts of the examination last.
- Reassure family members as much as possible; the child will benefit from their confidence.
- Allow the child to have familiar objects (transitional objects) such as a blanket, doll, or toy to help feel safe.
- Keep frightening objects out of the child’s line of vision. Also try to keep machines that make loud noises away.
- Praise (e.g., “You are being so brave”) and distraction (e.g., bubbles, puzzles) will decrease anxiety and increase cooperation
Working with children in emergencies: Preschoolers
- Explain a procedure or treatment a few seconds rather than minutes beforehand, because allowing the young child time to think about it may result in frightening fantasies or exaggerations.
- Talk to preschool children throughout procedures, describing the sensations they are feeling or will feel and telling them how they can help.
- Distract the child with noises or bright objects. Counting with some preschool children might help calm them during procedures.
- Avoid criticizing the preschool child for crying, struggling, or fighting during a procedure.
- Reassuring a child that the child did try his or her best to cooperate will help to build a positive self-image.
- Encourage the preschool child to talk about how the illness or injury occurred. If the child is inappropriately taking responsibility for the illness or injury, try to reassure that the child is not to blame for the situation.
- Remember that preschool children can seem to understand more than they actually do. Health care providers often overestimate understanding in a child of this age, so be sure to explain things in words the child understands.
- Use positive terms, such as “make better” and “help,” and avoid more frightening terms, such as “shot” and “cut.”
- Use adhesive bandages over small wounds and injection sites. Preschool children might imagine their blood leaking out through puncture wounds
Working with children in emergencies: School-age children
- Offer simple choices whenever possible to help the child feel more in control. The school-age child is capable of deciding in which arm to have an injection or in which hand to hold a nebulizer.
- Talk directly to the child, explaining procedures in simple terms.
- When explaining treatments or care options to the parent, include the child.
- Ask the child about the level of understanding and allow time for questions.
- Address the child’s fears or concerns directly rather than treating them as foolish or inconsequential.
- Give rewards, such as a sticker or an inexpensive toy, after a procedure regardless of the child’s behavior. Think of this gesture as a reward for undergoing the procedure, not as a judgment of “good” or “bad” behavior.
Working with children in emergencies: Adolescents
- Preserve the adolescent’s modesty; offer adolescents a choice regarding whether they want their parents present when obtaining history and during the examination.
- Consider the legal issues regarding the right to privacy for pregnant adolescents and adolescents with sexually transmissible diseases.
- Provide an opportunity for questions.
- Listen to the adolescent’s concerns nonjudgmentally and without belittling the young person.
- Developing a teasing relationship with an adolescent is often a temptation, but this has potential for harm; the adolescent is easily embarrassed.
- Explain procedures or treatments carefully and allow choices. Adolescents are capable of complex abstract thinking and can make intelligent and reasoned decisions about their own care
Primary Assessment in Pediatric Emergencies: ABCDE
A: Airway B: Breathing C: Circulation D: Disability E: Exposure