[Pediatric nursing in pain therapy]

KEY POSITION: Pediatric nursing owns a key position in pain therapy, due to its patient centered tasks and special kind of labor repartition between medicine and nursing. However, it is to admit that this key position obtains various forms of appearance in the different settings of pediatric nurses's practice. PAIN QUESTIONNAIRES: The difficulties within the correct assessment of children's pain by nurses refer to the application of valide pain questionnaires and continuous documentation. A prototype of pain prevention in nursing is the 'minimal handling' concept. Effective psychologic measures of pain prevention and relief are not only intrinsic and extrinsic focussing of awareness but also just holding the patient's hand. 'Cutaneous stimulation' and 'counterirritation' should be mentioned as physical techniques. COPING ABILITY: Close contact with friends or parents is one of the most important factors enhancing the patient's coping ability. If confronted with their own child in pain, parents often feel helpless which may result in anxiousness, overprotection, and inadequate support. Thus both parents and children need professional training to face painful procedures and behave in a supportive manner. There are numerous non-medical techniques which either by themselves, or in combination with analgetics, have the potential to substantially add to quality of life of the paediatric patient in pain.