Download

Download Full Text (590 KB)

Description

Many infants and children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) have difficulty self-reporting pain requiring nurses to score pain utilizing the FLACC scale. However, when surveyed, PICU nurses at Children’s Health expressed dissatisfaction with the FLACC scale because it did not accurately assess pain in the PICU population (mean=4.1). An extensive literature review was conducted to determine the best behavioral pain scale to use for nonverbal patients in the PICU. Based on the literature, the COMFORT-B scale was selected. The COMFORT-B scale is a behavioral pain scale validated in the PICU in children 0 to 10 years and in Down Syndrome 0 to 3 years. The goal of the project was to trial the COMFORT-B Scale to measure the PICU nurses’ perceptions of the COMFORT-B scale’s accuracy for non-verbal patients’ pain compared to the FLACC scale and determine feasibility of adopting the COMFORT-B scale at Children’s Health. Seven PICU nurses participated in the trial. Following education of the COMFORT-B scale, nurses scored their patients with the tool over two weeks on 80 patients. Participants completed a pre and post survey questions. The results from the post survey showed at participants thought the COMFORT-B scale was easier to use (mean= 8.1) and was more accurate (mean= 7.9) than FLACC. Even though the COMFORT-B scale is more thorough and takes more time to score than FLACC, participants thought the COMFORT-B Scale could be adapted into the workflow of a nurse’s daily tasks (mean=7.6).

Publication Date

2021

Disciplines

Pediatric Nursing

Nurse: Are you in Pain? Patient: (No answer)

Share

COinS