Influences shaping nurses' use of distraction for children's procedural pain

This study explored pediatric nurses' choices to use distraction for managing painful procedures.

Using interpretive description approaches, interviews with pediatric nurses provided descriptions of choices to manage procedural pain.

Nurses' distress influenced distraction use to mitigate the suffering of children and themselves. Newer nurses described task mastery as influencing distraction choices. Nurses' accounts of performing painful procedures on children mirrored children's descriptions of pain from the literature.

Nurses' distress and competency performing painful procedures on children influenced practice. Future qualitative studies could extend understanding of pain management choices by pediatric nurses and the impact on undermanaged pain.