Chapter 05: Pain Assessment and Management in Children

Chapter 05: Pain Assessment and Management in Children

Complete Chapter Questions With Answers

Sample Questions Are Posted Below

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. A 2-year-old child has been returned to the nursing unit after an inguinal hernia repair. Which pain assessment tool should the nurse use to assess this child for the presence of pain?

ANS:  D

A behavioral pain tool should be used when the child is preverbal or doesn’t have the language skills to express pain. The FLACC (face, legs, activity, cry, consolability) tool should be used with a 2-year-old child. The FACES, numeric, and Oucher scales are all self-report pain rating tools. Self-report measures are not sufficiently valid for children younger than 3 years of age because many are not able to accurately self-report their pain.

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Apply                   REF:   p. 115

TOP:   Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Assessment

MSC:  Area of Client Needs: Physiologic Integrity

2. The nurse is caring for a 6-year-old girl who had surgery 12 hours ago. The child tells the nurse that she does not have pain, but a few minutes later she tells her parents that she does. Which should the nurse consider when interpreting this?

ANS:  D

Children may deny pain to the nurse because they fear receiving an injectable analgesic or because they believe they deserve to suffer as a punishment for a misdeed. They may refuse to admit pain to a stranger but readily tell a parent. Truthfully reporting pain and inconsistency in pain reporting suggesting that pain is not present are common fallacies about children and pain. Pain is whatever the experiencing person says it is, whenever the person says it exists. Pain would not be questioned in an adult 12 hours after surgery.

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Analyze                REF:   p. 116

TOP:   Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Planning

MSC:  Area of Client Needs: Physiologic Integrity

3. A nurse is gathering a history on a school-age child admitted for a migraine headache. The child states, “I have been getting a migraine every 2 or 3 months for the last year.” The nurse documents this as which type of pain?

ANS:  C

Pain that is episodic and reoccurs is defined as recurrent pain. The time frame within which episodes of pain recur is at least 3 months. Recurrent pain in children includes migraine headache, episodic sickle cell pain, recurrent abdominal pain (RAP), and recurrent limb pain. Acute pain is pain that lasts for less than 3 months. Chronic pain is pain that lasts, on a daily basis, for more than 3 months. Subacute is not a term for documenting type of pain.

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Understand            REF:   p. 118

TOP:   Integrated Process: Communication and Documentation

MSC:  Area of Client Needs: Physiologic Integrity

4. Physiologic measurements in children’s pain assessment are:

ANS:  D

Physiologic manifestations of pain may vary considerably, not providing a consistent measure of pain. Heart rate may increase or decrease. The same signs that may suggest fear, anxiety, or anger also indicate pain. In chronic pain, the body adapts, and these signs decrease or stabilize. Physiologic measurements are of limited value and must be viewed in the context of a pain-rating scale, behavioral assessment, and parental report. When the child states that pain exists, it does. That is the truth.

DIF:    Cognitive Level: Understand            REF:   p. 119

TOP:   Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Assessment

MSC:  Area of Client Needs: Physiologic Integrity