The influence of children's vocal expressions, age, medical diagnosis and information obtained from parents on nurses' pain assessments and decisions regarding interventions

This article reports on a study that examines the influence of task-related factors on nurses' pain assessments and decisions regarding interventions. In an experimental design pediatric nurses (n = 202), were exposed to different cases, each case being a combination of a vignette and a videotape. For every case subjects were asked to assess the child's pain and to state whether they would administer an analgesic. The results indicated that pediatric nurses attributed more pain and were more inclined to administer non-narcotic analgesics to children who vocally expressed their pain than to children who were less expressive. Furthermore, the interaction results between the child's expression and the medical diagnosis revealed a trend indicating that nurses attributed the most pain to the child when the diagnosis was severe and the child vocally expressed his pain.