Facilitators and Challenges in Providing Pain Management to the Pediatric Population in Rural Northern Ontario

Abstract

Background: Children continue to experience pain in hospital. Few studies examine pediatric pain management in the rural context. Objectives: 1) To explore nurses’ experiences providing pain care to pediatric inpatients in Northern Ontario. 2) To identify institutional resources to support nurses’ pain care practices. Method: Across methods approach. Study I used qualitative description completed with 10 nurses using semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Study II was an exploratory descriptive online survey using a study-specific questionnaire that was completed by 8 hospital administrators. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and narrative synthesis was used for open-ended questions. Findings: Pediatric pain management presents challenges in Northern Ontario, including competing priorities, gaps in pain knowledge, unclear policies, and resource constraints. Potential facilitators include nurses’ motivation to improve pain management, leveraging local resources, and an increase in context specific standards. Conclusion: Context specific strategies need to be designed and implemented to support nurses’ practices in delivering recommended pediatric pain management to their patients.