Paediatric nursing
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Most of the issues around children and pain have been identified and yet children's pain continues to be poorly managed. This review aims to take a fresh look at this topic through the use of family nursing theory and children's policy and rights perspectives. Family nursing and children's policy have a valuable contribution to make to assessment issues; nurse education needs to combine family-centred care concepts and children's rights in the teaching of pain management.
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Recent reports suggest that emergency departments in England are some way from achieving universal provision of specific facilities for children and young people staffed by practitioners with appropriate qualifications. In 1998, 74 per cent of emergency departments employed children's nurses, but only 8 per cent employed them in sufficient numbers to provide 24-hour cover (Smith 1998). ⋯ There has been an increase in the numbers of children's nurses employed in general emergency departments but the numbers are still too low to comply with policy requirements. Managers should ensure that the skills of children's nurses are used to the full, and ENPs need to consider legal and accountability issues if they are asked to assess and treat children without having accessed appropriate training.