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Assessment and measurement of pain

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Child and Infant Pain

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Abstract

Effective pain management is fundamentally linked to the effective assessment of child’s pain; without good pain assessment subsequent pain management strategies cannot be based on a good information base. Adult pain assessment is acknowledged to be problematic, with a number of studies demonstrating that nurses often inappropriately under-assess pain (Bondestam et al., 1987; Dalton, 1989; Graffam, 1981; Seers, 1980). Bradshaw and Zeanah (1986) state that pain assessment is:

One of the most common and most difficult tasks for nurses to accomplish (p. 315).

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  1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Bernadette Carter (Senior Lecturer in Health Care Studies)

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Carter, B. (1994). Assessment and measurement of pain. In: Child and Infant Pain. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3366-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-3366-9_3

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