Pedagogy Hospital: Pediatric Pain

The assessment tools provide access to pediatric pain patient's subjective state with the dual purpose of:

- Get as much information about the different dimensions of pain perception (intensity, location, duration, frequency). - Assess their cognitions and emotional reactions to the painful experience.

These issues can only be known through introspection, proving very difficult to do from the assessments of parents or medical personnel, making self-report instruments almost essential in the evaluation of pain. They are widely used in research and hospital practice because they are useful to get a quick view of the patient's difficulties on which to investigate further. They can serve as a measure pre / post-treatment and as a means to reach a description "objective" of the subjectivity of the individual.

The child self-report is generally the most reliable and valid measure of pain in pediatric patients, provided that the instrument used is appropriate and meets the age and socio-cultural characteristics of the child. For example, faces scales are useful for school children but not for children under 2 years.

There are several types of self-reports to suit different needs and stages of development of the pediatric patient. The most common methods are:

A. ProyectivosB methods. EntrevistasC. EscalasD. CuestionariosE. Self-reports

The last three are the most used by the simplicity of the procedure and because it better suited to quick and reliable assessment as required in the hospital setting. Less attention has received the interview and projective tests. http://www.animacion.synthasite.com