Authors

1Mª Francisca Casas Martínez, 2Teresa Poza Sebastián, 3David Cardunets García, 4Juan M Minguez Morales

Position

¹Profesora de Enfermería Infantil y de Antropología del Cuidado en la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Departamento de Enfermería.²Enfermera. Profesora asociada en Ciencias de la Salud. Departamento de Enfermería de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.³Escuela Universitaria de Enfermería y Fisioterapia. Departamento de Enfermería de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.⁴Supervisor del Servicio de Pediatría y Neonatología. Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias, Madrid.

Contact address

Departamento de Enfermería. Escuela de Enfermería y Fisioterapia. Universidad de Alcalá. Campus Universitario. Carretera de Barcelona.

Contact email: francisca.casas@uah.es

Abstract

Several myths exist regarding the management of pain in infancy, which contribute to a lack of efficacy in its relief and management.
Objetives: to analyse the knowledge about pain in infancy that paediatric nurses and nurse students have upon completion of their degrees and to determine whether there any differences exist between both groups and to identify strengths and lacks.
Method: descriptive cross-sectional study carried out by means of a questionnaire administered to paediatric nurses in Madrid hospitals (59) and nurse students (33) at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.
Results: 45,7% of nurses and 40,7% of students are of the opinion that to alleviate pain can be more damaging and painful for the child than the actual pain. Significant differences in opinion have been detected between both groups in the sense that “children experience pain less than adults”, “the pain is proportional to the size of the lesion”, “parents underestimate pain in children” and “knowledge of any method to assess pain in nursing infants”. 77% agrees that “shots” is what children fear the most and 44% associate trauma to the first memory of pain in infancy.
Conclusions: knowledge on the topic of pain in infancy and the value given to pain in different situations are quite similar between the two groups. However, there is a high percentage of students who agree that children experience a lesser intensity of pain and a much lower percentage of nurses who claim to know a method that assesses pain in nursing infants. The technique thought to be more painful for children is not related to the first memory of pain the child remembers from his or her infancy.

Keywords:

pain; infancy; paediatric nursing; careinvestigation

Versión en Español

Título:

Conocimientos de las enfermeras acerca del dolor en la infancia