ABSTRACT
Health professionals often underestimate children's pain and do not treat it as a priority. To raise awareness, the International Association for the Study of Pain has launched a campaign [Global Year against Pain in Children] in 2005, but evidence shows that the pain in children still remains undertreated. to determine the prevalence of postoperative pain and the methods for pain treatment in pediatric patients. This survey was done on a one-day period in 7 hospitals in northeastern Thailand. Participants were all in-patient children of the age <15 years old or their parents. Exclusion criteria were newborn and critically ill infants. Interesting data included; pain prevalence [pain score > 1 during the past 24 hrs], patients' perception of receiving pain treatment. Self report pain was measured with the use of either numerical rating scale [0 to 10 scales] or the Faces Pain Scale-Revised [0-5 faces]. For those who were unable to self report pain, the Neonatal Infant Pain scale was used. Types of surgery, days after surgery, prescription for pain relief and non-pharmacological measures used for pain relief were also recorded. One hundred and thirty three of 487 patients [27.3%] were surgical cases. The prevalence of postoperative pain during the past 24 hrs was 69.2%, but those who had moderate to severe pain was 43.6%. Most of children [78.2%] experienced mild or no pain at the time of interview. Almost a half [44.6%] of them perceived they had pain medication upon request and more than half of them [60.1%] used non-pharmacological methods for supplementary pain relief. Two most common prescribed medications were paracetamol [51.9%] and morphine [25.6%]. The proportion of medication administered to patients was less than those found in the prescription such as 24.8% vs 51.9% for paracetamol and 8.3% vs 25.6% for IV morphine. Only three conventional routes, oral, intravenous and intramuscular /subcutaneous routes, were found in the prescription for pain treatment. Postoperative pain remains undertreated in northeastern Thailand. We need to raise awareness level and improve the understanding and the knowledge about Postoperative pain and its management
ABSTRACT
This research aimed to compare health promotion competencies of undergraduate nursing students as perceived by students and instructors. The study samples comprised 508 senior nursing students from 10 faculties of nursing who were studying in second semester of 2006 academic year, and 257 instructors in the same undergraduate programs. All instructors taught both theoretical and practical nursing courses in the programs. Two self- report questionnaires used for data collection in this study included demographic data form and the Professional Nurse’s Health Promotion Competencies Questionnaire. It consisted of 5 subscales: personal characteristic in health promotion, nursing activities in health promotion, management in health promotion, development of health promotion network, and research and knowledge management in health promotion. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was .96. Research coordinator for each nursing faculty distributed the questionnaires to students and instructors, simple randomly selected from 50 percent of the population. Mean, standard deviation and an independent t-test were used to compare the health promotion competencies as perceived by students and instructors. Research findings showed that mean scores of the total scale of health promotions competencies of undergraduate nursing students as perceived by students and instructors were 3.50 and 3.38, respectively. Subscale mean scores of students’ perception ranged from 3.12 to 3.69 while subscale mean scores of instructors’ perception ranged from 2.72 to 3.65. There were statistically significant differences between mean scores of the total scale perceived by students and instructors at p \< .05. Statistical differences were also found in the management in health promotion subscale, development of health promotion network subscale, and research and knowledge management in health promotion subscales. Research findings suggested that nursing faculties should establish health promotion competencies appropriate to educational level and expectations of stakeholders, and informed the students regarding the expected competencies in order to prepare them to meet the expectations.