Postoperative Pediatric Pain Management and Education
Nursing theory guides and assists nurses in daily practice from bedside nurses to advanced practice nurses. There are many theories that advanced practice nurses utilize to lead others, make decisions, and have a positive influence on the patients that they provide care for on a daily basis. Nursing theory also shows the role to other healthcare professionals exactly what nurses do and their role in the healthcare environment. Theory can also be used to promote the profession of nursing and provide value.
Alternative Theories for Nursing Promotion There are several nursing theories that would help promote professional growth and development of master’s-level nursing practice concepts.
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The nurse needs to be sure to use the appropriate pain scale for the patient, whether that is the use of a verbal pain scale, the Face Scale, or Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, and Consolability Scale (FLACC) and get the family involved to address the pain to an acceptable level (Twycross, 2007). For example, it needs to be clear to a patient who just had a posterior spinal fusion that a pain level of less than four may be tolerable due to the nature of the procedure and the patient needs to understand that a pain level of zero is not …show more content…
The Comfort Theory by Katherine Kolcaba would address not only pain, but help the nurse understand anxiety levels of the patient and parents, therapeutic interventions such as the use of ice packs, warm blankets, distraction techniques such as blowing bubbles and having parents engaged with the child who may be experiencing pain (McEwen & Wills, 2014). This theory also shows the importance of how families view the operations of the institute and if their child is not having their pain addressed then this may result in a negative connotation of the hospital. The overall goal of this theory looks at the outcomes of comfort and shows that comfort can be measurable, positive, nurse specific, and positive in nature (McEwen & Wills,