Parental assessment and management of children's postoperative pain: observational cohort study

Acute postoperative pain in children is common. Although mothers care for their children's pain in most cases, mothers have limited knowledge about pain assessment and the management of their children. This study aims to evaluate the practices of parents in the evaluation and management of postoperative pain in children.

This observational cohort study was conducted among 102 parents with children aged between 2 and 12. The data were collected using parental pain relief strategies (PURPS) and parental postoperative pain management (PPPM) items. The statistical tests were performed at a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level.

The overall median score of parents' use of pain relief strategies was 40.0 (IQR = 14.0), with the majority of parents having a low (27.5%) to moderate (58.8%) level of knowledge. According to the PPPM, 96.1% of the children were rated as experiencing significant pain (score ≥6), whereas the pain scores recorded by the nurses were none to mild (53.9%), moderate (38.2%), and severe (7.8%), which is lower than the score given by parents. The PPPM score of mothers (median = 12.0, IQR = 3.0) was significantly different from the PPPM score given by fathers (median = 13.0, IQR = 3.5) (P value -0.046).

Parents displayed low to moderate levels of knowledge regarding the use of pain relief methods about their children's postoperative pain and pain management.