Parents’ management of adolescent patients’ postoperative pain after discharge A qualitative study

摘要

Background: Short hospital admission periods following pediatric inpatient surgery leave parentsresponsible for managing their child’s postoperative pain in the community following discharge.Little is known about the experiences of parents caring for their child’s postoperative pain afterdischarge home following inpatient surgery. Research examining parental postoperative painmanagement following their child’s day surgery has found that parents are challenged in theirpain management knowledge and practices.Aims: This interpretative phenomenological analysis study sought to understand parents’ experi-ences caring for their child’s postoperative pain at home.Methods: Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with seven parents between2 weeks and 6 months after their child’s discharge from hospital.Results: Identified themes were coming home without support, managing significant pain at home,and changes in the parent–child relationship.Conclusions: Parents could potentially benefit from nurses optimizing educational interventions,from receiving ongoing support of transitional pain teams, and from assistance with return toschool planning.