부산대학교 도서관

Studies have shown that children's pain is often inadequately treated. This may be because children find it difficult to express their experience of pain, and because children's pain often goes unnoticed.In this study, children aged 4-12 years with suspected fracture of an extremity were included in a questionnaire-based study. The children, with or without with their parents, were asked to assess their pain, using Bieri's Faces Pain Scale, on admission, in situations involving the worst possible pain and on discharge from the emergency department. Use of analgesia prior to and during the stay in the emergency department was recorded. 92 questionnaires were analysed. The mean age of study participants was 9.6 years and 46 children had a fracture. The mean pain score for all children on arrival in the emergency department was 4.8, in the worst possible pain situation 5.7, and 2.9 on discharge. Sixty-four per cent of the children did not receive analgesia in the emergency department.The study confirms that children suffer significant pain the emergency department and are not offered sufficient analgesia. In terms of improving paediatric pain management in the emergency department, it is recommended that Bieri's revised, 6-point Face Pain Scale be used for children aged 4 and over.