WellChild Research Fellowship

WellChild Nursing Research Fellowship in Acute Pain

Lead researchers: Professor Linda Franck and Nina Power, WellChild Pain Research Centre, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital

Grant award sum: £183,500

                

Duration: March 2006 - August 2010

Synopsis: Why study pain in children?

Of the 15 million children in the UK, one in five of them have a chronic illness or disability. Up to half of infants less than 12 months old and 25% of older children visit an accident and emergency department and 1 in 10 children will be admitted to hospital. There are nearly 500,000 operations on children each year and in one-third of the cases, children are sent home the same day and parents manage their postoperative care. Even healthy children will visit a general practitioner between three and six times per year.

Many of these children will experience painful conditions and all of these children will receive medical care that involves painful investigations and/or treatments. Pain is unpleasant, delays recovery from illness, adds a stressful psychological burden on the child and their family, and may cause long term damage to the nervous system. More research is needed to understand how pain works in the developing child, how to measure it, how to treat it, and how to deliver effective pain care to all the nation’s children.

WellChild supports researchers to discover new ways to relieve children’s pain

The WellChild Pain Research Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), Institute of Child Health (ICH), and University College London (UCL) owes its existence to the core support from WellChild over five years, 1998-2004. The mission of the WellChild Pain Research Centre is directly aligned with the mission of the WellChild Charity. It is to improve children’s health and care through research, information, support and education about children’s pain and its management.

The WellChild Pain Research Centre is unique in Europe and competes in excellence with such centres in the USA and Canada. Researchers associated with the Centre have made major breakthroughs in understanding of the neural mechanisms of children’s pain and have provided valuable education for practitioners and researchers all over the world. 

WellChild recognises the special role that nurses can have both in the research and care of children’s pain

There is growing evidence for the importance of assessment of children’s pain and in the non-drug methods that can be used with children to prevent or reduce pain and distress associated with illness and medical procedures. Much of this research has been led by nurses. However, there are few nurses in the UK with the expertise to design and conduct these studies. WellChild is the only children’s charity that has provided support for training of experienced paediatric nurses in pain research leading to Masters or PhD degrees. 

Under the supervision of Prof. Linda Franck at the WellChild Pain Research Centre, three WellChild Nursing Research Fellows have undertaken academic training and conducted original clinical research projects. Research led by WellChild Nursing Research Fellows has contributed to improvements in children’s pain care throughout the UK and internationally in two main areas: (a) Improving children’s pain assessment and (b) Improving parent involvement in children’s pain care. Former awardees are now in leadership positions in UK paediatric nursing.

 

Key publications from WellChild Nursing Research Fellows

Simons J, Franck LS, Robertson E. Parent involvement in children's pain care: views of parents and nurses. J Adv Nursing. 2001 Nov; 36(4): 591-599.

Franck LS, Cox S, Allen A, Winter I. Parent concerns about infant pain: influence on parental stress. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2004 Jan; 89(1):F71-5.

Simons J, Roberson E. Poor communication and knowledge deficits: obstacles to effective management of children’s postoperative pain. J Adv Nursing. 2002 40(1): 78-86.

Bruce E, Franck LS. Using the worldwide web to improve children’s pain care. Intl Nurs Rev 2005;52:204-209.

Bruce L, Howard R, Franck LS Chest drain removal pain and its management: A literature review. J Clin Nurs 2006:15:145-154.

Bruce L, Franck LS, Howard R. The efficacy of morphine and Entonox analgesia during chest drain removal in children. Pediatr Anesth. 2006;6(3):309-313.

Power N, Liossi C, Franck L. Helping parents to help their child in pain: Practical, evidence-based advice. J Spec Pediatr Nurs 2007;12(3):203-209.

Power N, Franck L. Parent participation in the care of hospitalised children: A systematic review. JAdv Nurs 62(6): 622-641.