Pain in hospitalized pediatric patients in a third-level healthcare institution

Abstract

In the hospital setting, pediatric patients can present painful conditions or undergo procedures that generate pain, therefore, recognizing their existence and carrying out a clinical approach to it should be a priority in health care teams.

Objective: To characterize the pain and its clinical-therapeutic approach in hospitalized patients in the general ward of a tertiary pediatric healthcare institution.

Patients and Method: An observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study conducted between August and October 2019. 187 patients were included. Study variables were sex, reason for hospitalization, treating specialty, chronic, current, and in the last 24 hours pain, intensity, maximum cause of pain, and analgesic prescription. The FLACC (Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability) scale was used in children aged between two months and three years, the revised Faces Pain Scale in children between four and eight years of age, and the self-reported Visual Analogue Scale was used in children from nine years of age onwards. After data analysis with descriptive statistics, differences between groups were calculated with the Chi-square test for qualitative variables, and non-parametric tests for comparison of groups with ordinal variables.

Results: 10.7% of the patients had chronic pain, without differences according to sex (p = 0.713). The prevalence of pain at the time of the evaluation was 38.5%, without differences according to sex (p = 0.419). Patients admitted for surgery and trauma had a higher prevalence of pain (p = 0.034) and 53.5% of the children had an analgesic prescription.

Conclusion: the prevalence of pain in the hospitalized pediatric patients is high. Additionally, high use of non-opioid analgesia and a low prescription of opioid analgesics in the pediatric sphere is reported for the usual management of moderate and severe intensity pain.