Children still experience pain during hospital stay
a cross-sectional study from four countries in Europe
V. Vejzovic, J. Bozic, G. Panova, M. Babajic and A-C Bramhagen
Abstract
Background: Little is known whether children experience pain during hospital stay from the child’s own
perspective or not. The existing studies tend to be based on a small number of children and therefore have
limitations concerning the generalisability of the results.
Aim: The aim of this study was to describe children’s self-reported pain and experience concerning pain
management during hospital stay.
Methods: This study has a quantitative cross-sectional design with descriptive statistics as data analysis.
Results: A total of 786 questionnaires, Pain in Children in Hospital, were distributed in four countries with the response
rate of 75% which was almost equal between countries. Our result showed that 87% (503/579) children at hospital selfreported
pain during the past 24 h. Nearly 63% of the children reported a pain score of > 5 the last 24 h. Most of
children reported that they had received a question about pain from the hospital staff, and that the staff observed and
assessed their pain. Totally 95% reported that they were satisfied with their pain relief during the last 24 h.
Conclusion: Our study showed that when children were given the possibility to self-report pain, nearly 2/3 expressed
that they had experienced pain during hospital stay. However, most of them reported satisfaction with pain
management and their pain relief.
Keywords: Children, Cross-sectional, Hospital stay, Pain, Pain assessment, Self-report