Social representations of nursing professionals on pain assessment in pediatric oncology patients

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:As pain is subjective, a personal and unique experience, professionals cannot ignore it or even underestimate it, especially thinking about the pediatric cancer patient. The objective was to apprehend the social representations of the nursing technicians on pain assessment in oncological children. METHODS: Qualitative research, based on the Representation Theory. Collection was carried out in the pediatric oncology care sector in March 2017. RESULTS: Six nursing technicians participated in the study, their speeches were grouped through a thematic categorization, namely: category 1. Pain perception in pediatric cancer patients, with two subcategories (pain assessment methods and institutional protocol for pain assessment) and category 2: Difficulties in applying the pain assessment method. CONCLUSION: Pain assessment of pediatric oncology patients is limited by nursing professionals, who perform it empirically or even through touching and observing face changes. Without a standardized and validated measurement instrument, this assessment may not be reliable, even though it's understandable that this is partly due to the process of adapting to the social reality that was established in the care system.