A 7-year-old child had an emergency appendectomy during the night. When trying to assess his pain, the nurse should
A) ask him to rate his pain on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 = no pain and 10 = worse pain ever.
B) show him a scale with faces of actual children and have him point to the picture that best describes how he is feeling.
C) consider his pulse and BP readings to be the most specific indicators of the amount of pain he is experiencing.
D) try to distract him by blowing bubbles to minimize the use of opioids so that he does not become addicted to the narcotic.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Children do feel pain and have been shown to reliably and accurately report pain. With children 3 to 8 years of age, scales with faces of actual children or cartoon faces can be used to obtain a report of pain. Physiologic measures, such as heart rate, are convenient to measure, but they are nonspecific. They may be a sign of anxiety and not pain.Distraction methods are good, but medications should be used on an individual basis to match the analgesic agent with the level of pain.

A 7-Year-Old Child Had an Emergency Appendectomy During the Night