Pain
is when your child has feelings of hurt. Pain can
have a serious impact on a child's life. It can
change their mood, cause them to lose sleep, and
interfere with daily activities. Your child has
the right to good pain management.
Tell
us about your child's pain so that we
can help him/her get the best relief.
Make sure that a member of your
health team is aware of any pain your child is
having. Some patients are hesitant to talk about
their pain, but we want you and your child to
do so.
- Tell us the following things
about your child's pain:
- Where is it located?
- How bad is it? (See next page
for samples of pain scales)
- What has helped so far or in
the past?
If pain medicines are given to your child, please:
- Make sure you know who and
when to call if your child's pain is not well
controlled.
- Learn the possible side effects.
Please ask your doctor, nurse, or therapist for
more specific information about pain and other
methods of pain control. We are committed to treating
your child's pain. Please also let us know your
fears about pain medication
(Adapted from University of Michigan Medical
Center)
PAIN RATING SCALES: EXAMPLES
For patients who are able to provide
a self-report of pain, the three most commonly
used pain-rating scares are probably:
1. Numerical or adaptation of
visual analog scale (VAS) (e.g., 0-5, 0-10, 0-100)
2. Descriptive or word descriptors (e.g., none,
mild, moderate, severe, very severe.
3. Faces (e.g., Wong-Baker)
The above may be combined (e.g.,
numbers and words; faces and numbers). They may
be presented vertically or horizontally. Based
on pilot studies of children, it seems that a
vertical presentation of words or numbers, such
as
the vertical line shown on the right, is more
easily and quickly understood by the majority
of children and adults encountered in busy, stressful
clinical settings.
Recommended for persons age three years and older.
Explain to the person that each face is for a
person who feels happy because he or she has no
pain (hurt), or sad because he or she has some
or a lot of pain. Face 0 = very happy because
he doesn't hurt at all. Face 1 = hurts just a
little bit. Face 2 = hurts a little more. Face
3 = hurts even more. Face 4 = hurts a whole lot.
Face 5 = hurts as much as you can imagine, although
you don't have to be crying to feel this bad.
Ask the person to choose the face that best describes
how he or she is feeling.*
Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale*
*Source: Wong, DL: Whaley and
Wong's Nursing Care of Infants and Children, 5th
Edition, Mosby- Year Book, Inc., © 1995.
Source: Margo McCaffery, RN, MS, FAAN, Nursing
Consultant, Pain, Los Angeles, California |
