Nurse Practitioners in a Canadian Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospital: A Description of Roles and Scope of Practice.

The nurse practitioner role is strongly suited to meet the needs of children with complex developmental conditions in pediatric rehabilitation settings as they have a unique combination of clinical expertise. To meet the increasing demands in a large Canadian pediatric rehabilitation hospital, the NP role was implemented in several clinical program settings to improve access to care. This paper describes the contributions of NPs to nine specialized inpatient and outpatient programs in NP-led, collaborative NP and physician or interagency care team models of practice. The initial challenges of role implementation and implications for NP practice, research and leadership are discussed.

Improvements in pain outcomes in a Canadian pediatric teaching hospital following implementation of a multifaceted knowledge translation initiative.

BACKGROUND: A previous audit performed at a tertiary / quaternary pediatric hospital in Toronto, Ontario, demonstrated suboptimal assessment and treatment of children's pain. Knowledge translation (KT) initiatives (education, reminders, audit and feedback) were implemented to address identified care gaps; however, the impact is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of KT initiatives on pain outcomes including process outcomes (eg, pain assessment and management practices) and clinical outcomes (eg, pain prevalence and intensity); and to benchmark additional pain practices, particularly opioid administration and painful procedures. METHODS: Medical records at The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Ontario) were reviewed on a single day in September 2007. Pain assessment and management practices, and pain prevalence and intensity in the preceding 24 h were recorded on a standardized data collection form. Where possible, pain outcomes were compared with previous audit results. RESULTS: Records of 265 inpatients were audited. Sixty-three per cent of children underwent a documented pain assessment compared with 27% in an audit conducted previously (P<0.01). Eighty-three per cent of children with documented pain received at least one pain management intervention. Overall, 51% of children received pharmacological therapy, and 15% received either a psychological or physical pain-relieving intervention. Of those assessed, 44% experienced pain in the previous 24 h versus 66% in the previous audit (P<0.01). Fewer children experienced severe pain compared with the first audit (8.7% versus 26.1%; P<0.01). One-third of children received opioids; 19% of these had no recorded pain assessment. Among 131 children who underwent a painful procedure, 21% had a concurrent pain assessment. Painful procedures were accompanied by a pain-relieving intervention in 12.5% of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Following KT initiatives, significant improvements in pain processes (pain assessment documentation and pain management interventions) and clinical outcomes (pain prevalence, pain intensity) were observed. Further improvements are recommended, specifically with respect to procedural pain practices and opioid utilization patterns.

Benchmarking pain outcomes for children with sickle cell disease hospitalized in a tertiary referral pediatric hospital.

BACKGROUND: Painful vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) is the most common reason for hospitalization in children with sickle cell disease. OBJECTIVE: To benchmark pain outcomes in sickle cell disease, including process outcomes (eg, pain assessment and documentation practices, pain management interventions) and clinical outcomes (eg, pain intensity over hospital stay), to identify areas for improvement. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on electronic charts of children hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of VOC between July 2007 and August 2008. RESULTS: A convenience sample of 50 admissions was used. In terms of clinical outcomes, patients presented to the emergency department with an initial median pain intensity of 9/10 (interquartile range 8/10 to 10/10). Forty-three per cent had not used opioids for pain relief at home. The mean (± SD) length of stay was 4.0±2.3 days. For most patients, median scores for highest daily pain intensity remained moderate to high throughout hospitalization, although scores did decrease significantly per day of hospitalization. In terms of process outcomes, pain intensity was assessed according to hospital standards on 25% of days in both the emergency department and the ward. There was no discrepancy between prescribed and administered opioid doses and medication use. In 95% of cases, strong opioid use was in a subtherapeutic or low therapeutic dosage range. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed three areas to target for improvement: improved pain assessment and documentation using valid pain tools; more aggressive multimodal management for peak VOC pain; and better education and support for pain management at home. Further studies are required to evaluate optimal pain treatment practices.

Pain management in children: Part 1 - Pain assessment tools and a brief review of nonpharmacological and pharmacological treatment options.

If pain is not treated quickly and effectively in children, it can cause long-term physical and psychological sequelae. Therefore, it is important for all health care providers to understand the importance of effective pain control in children. This article is divided into 2 parts: Part 1 reviews the pharmacotherapy of pain management in children and Part 2 will review the problems relating to the use of codeine in children, and the rationale for recommending morphine as the opioid of choice in the treatment of moderate to severe pain. There has been growing concern about codeine's lack of efficacy and increased safety concerns in its use in children. Due to the variability of codeine metabolism and unpredictable effects on efficacy and safety, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, no longer includes codeine or codeine-containing products on the regular hospital formulary and now recommends oral morphine as the agent of choice for the treatment of moderate to severe pain in children. A knowledge translation (KT) strategy was developed and implemented by the hospital's Pain Task Force to support this practice change.