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- Eriksson, Kerstin
(författare)
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Postoperative pain assessment and impact of pain on early physical recovery, from the patients' perspective
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Pain is a common postoperative experience. Guidelines recommend performing regular pain assessments, which include self-rated pain and additional communication to capture patients' experiences. During hospitalisation, pain intensity is found to be a vital factor influencing other aspects of an early physical recovery, and is consequently an important item in questionnaires for recovery. These tools consist of extensive questionnaires which are difficult to use in everyday clinical work. A simplified method of monitoring postoperative recovery would benefit both patients and healthcare professionals.Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was twofold: (A) to determine the ability of extending the use of pain ratings to reflect and predict early physical postoperative recovery and (B) to describe patients’ perspectives on pain assessments.Methods: The studies were carried out at one (I), three (IV) and four hospitals (II, III) involving general surgical and orthopaedic inpatients. Two quantitative methods were used based on data from questionnaires and medical records. They consisted of one cross-sectional study (I) and one study with repeated measures (IV). An association was sought between pain intensity and postoperative recovery on days 1 and 2 (I, IV), and prehospital data (IV). Two qualitative methods were used involving a phenomenographic (III) approach and Critical Incident Technique (IV), where semi-structured interviews were performed postoperatively and analysed inductively in accordance with the approach.Results: An association was found between moderate/severe average pain intensity compiled from monitoring records and impact on early physical postoperative recovery on day 1 (I). Retrospective average pain intensity at rest and during activity reflected impact on recovery on postoperative day 1 (IV). Severe pain intensity at rest and during activity on postoperative day 1 predicted impact on physical recovery items on day 2 (IV). The use of the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS 0-10) was considered to facilitate communication about pain, but to involve difficulties of interpretation and place demand on healthcare professionals and care routines (II). Patients’ descriptions of their experiences when in need of describing pain indicated two main areas: patients’ resources when needing to describe pain and ward resources for performing pain assessments (III). Descriptions of their actions when they were in pain indicated two main areas: patients used active strategies when needing to describe pain or patients used passive strategies when needing to describe pain (III).Conclusions: This thesis contributes to knowledge about the possibility of using patients' self-rated average pain intensity to reflect early physical postoperative recovery on day 1 and to predict recovery on the following day. The pain scale gave patients and healthcare professionals a shared vocabulary, which facilitated communication. Furthermore, dialogue during pain assessments was described as critical in ascertaining whether pain intensity had an impact on different aspects of physical recovery. Environmental factors such as the attitude of healthcare professionals, workload and staffing influenced how pain assessments were performed.
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| 2. |
- Gimbler Berglund, Ingalill
(författare)
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Developing guidelines in nursing care of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in high technology health care settings
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction. The high technology environment such as a radiology and anaesthesia department in a typical health care setting can many times be a frightening environment for children. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), have problems with communication and social interaction. They are dependent on routines and can have higher sensitivity to sensory stimuli than other children. These children are one group who constitutes special challenges in reducing anxiety and creating participation in a high technology environment. This can make them prone to frightening encounters in health care settings if not cared for with special consideration.Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to audit and enhance the care of children in a high technology environment in the health care system with a focus on children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Methods: A descriptive design was used with both qualitative and quantitative methods. In Study I, 32 nurse anaesthetists were interviewed to explore the actions and experiences of caring for children in a high technology environment using a qualitative method, known as the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). In the two following studies (Study II, III) a cross-sectional design was used and two national surveys were performed to obtain knowledge on the status in Sweden regarding the care of children with ASD in high technology environments. Sixty-eight anaesthesia departments, 38 paediatric departments and 86 radiology departments responded to the survey. Descriptive statistic was used for the answers apart from the comments part of the questionnaire where qualitative content analysis was used. Due to the limited existence of guidelines in these environments, the creation ofevidence-based guidelines was performed in Study IV, using a Delphi method. The Delphi study was based on information gleaned from the previous studies and from the literature, and 21 experts identified in Study II and III were the expert panel developing the guidelines.Result: Nurses identified children with special needs such as children with ASD as a vulnerable group in a high technology environment (Study I). Seven departments in the anaesthesia context had guidelines for caring for children with ASD in the perioperative context. In the other departments, the care of children with ASD was dependent on the knowledge of the nurse presently working there (Study II). None of the radiology departments in Sweden had guidelines on how to care for children with ASD going through a radiographic examination without anaesthesia (Study III). As a result of Study I, II and III, the need for structured guidelines for caring for children with ASD in a high technology context was identified and a set of guidelines and a checklist was created. The guidelines relate to the organisational structure for the care of children with deficits in social interaction, communication, sensory sensitivity and dependence on routines. The checklist relates to gleaning information about the specific child to be able to give person-centred care based on the specific characteristic of the child (Study IV).Conclusion: Nurses working in a high technology environment in health care have diverse experiences of preventing anxiety in children with ASD coming for a challenging procedure. There are a limited number of evidence-based guidelines to decrease anxiety and to create participation in this group ofchildren. Evidence-based guidelines were created as a tool for enhancing person-centred care in a high technology environment for this group of children. The fact that several problems are assembled under one disorder makes ASD a useful condition to have as a basis for formulating national guidelines. Guidelines that cater for the care of children with ASD in a high technology environment using a person-centred approach may also extend to the care for children with other neurodevelopmental disorders that exhibit some of the same problems as children with ASD.
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| 3. |
- Wikström, Lotta
(författare)
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The clinical utility of patients’ self-rated postoperative pain after major surgery – the perspective of healthcare professionals'
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) is suitable in postoperative settings, yet, the implementation has shown varying results. This has raised issues about the pain scales contribution to the identifying and understanding of pain. The aim of this thesis was to describe the clinical utility of patients’ self-rated postoperative pain after major surgery from a healthcare professional perspective.The aim of study I and II was to describe healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the use of pain scales, and to through considering critical incidents describe care experiences and actions taken by healthcare professionals’ when assessing pain. Participants in study I (N=25) and II (N=24) were enrolled- registered nurses and physicians with clinical experiences of pain scales. The aims of study III and IV were to determine the clinical applicability of NRS mode- and maximum- measures, and the NRS mode- and median measures at rest and during activity based on patients self-rated pain. The aim in study IV was additionally to determine the number of NRS ratings needed for the calculation of these measures. The number of surgical and orthopedic patients who completed study III were: n=157 and study IV: n=479.Study I and II confirmed earlier findings of patients’ self-reported pain scores as a facilitator in the understanding of their postoperative pain. Organizational routines, documentation devices, clinical competence, continuity in care, collaborative actions, time, and individual routines were healthcare related factors affecting the use of pain scales (I, II). Patient-related facilitating factors were patients’ ability and willingness to communicate pain, while disability and unwillingness to communicate or inconsistency in verbal communication with observed behaviors were barriers (II). Time and multidimensional communication approaches could bridge these barriers (I, II).Study III and IV showed acceptable reliability for the mode, median and maximum measures. Rank correlations for individual median scores, based on four ratings, versus patients’ retrospective self-rated average pain, were moderate and strengthened with increased numbers of ratings. The Svensson method showed an individual variation within the expected outcome and a significant systematic group change towards a higher level of reported retrospective pain. The calculated pain measures, particularly concerning pain at rest, generally were lower than patients’ recall of pain.The findings described beneficial effects of patient self-reported pain, however present healthcare did not fully support the utilization of pain scales. Because of the simple measurement characteristics, the use of daily NRS average pain measures, patients’ pain can be followed until resolved. The measures could additionally become important patient reported outcome measures and thus constitute new motivators to increase the utilization of pain scales.
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