Using tools for pain perception assessment in hospitalized pre-school children submitted to painful procedure

Abstract

The aim of this study was evaluate the utilization of tools for pain perception assessment in 41 hospitalized preschool children submitted to painful procedures: care of wounds or blood extraction. The utilizaded tools were the faces scale, behaviorial indicators and words which describe the pain. Most of the pre-schoolers understood and correctly answered to the faces scale, which can be noticed by the crescent moviment 0 (no pain)® 4 (maximum pain) during the choice of faces before and after the painful procedure. Crying, immortility and forehead wriking were the predominant behavioral indicators, intensified during the procedure. Preschoolers verbalizations about their pain showed up to be concret terms or evaluative-indicative nature, esulting in variable, precise or weakly precise concepts.