Development of pain management nursing care program for children with cancer

Introduction: Pain management is one of the challenging issues in the pediatric oncologic domain. Strengthening nurses’ knowledge and skills are necessary to establish optimal quality of care. The study aimed to develop a pain management nursing care program for children with cancer. Patients and methods: The participants of the qualitative research phase included 10 children parents (8 mothers and 2 fathers) and 15 health providers (10 nurses, 3 oncologists, and 2 palliative medicine specialists). The study was the exploratory mixed method according to the Kern model with three phases, including two-stage qualitative stages (literature review and content analysis) in the first phase, providing a draft of the program (Phase 2) and validating the draft, using the Delphi method. Results: Three main categories emerged from the literature review and qualitative study findings, including factors related to nursing, pediatric parents, and health care organizations. They were realized as the base of initial pain management nursing care obstacles that were considered in the program draft. These categories were classified into 3 domains of knowledge, attitude, and skill pain management deficiency. The contents were confirmed in 13 pain management outlines at the Delphi phase. The second phase demonstrated the final program contents, including training on items of pain concept, cancer pain, painful procedures, pain assessment, nursing care, pharmacological and non-pharmacologic interventions as the pillar outlines in pain management. Conclusions: The nursing care pain management program in children with cancer with an innovative view that provides professional educational opportunities for optimal pain management