The Make Pain Easier initiative was the culmination of a multidisciplinary team work to improve the way we manage painful or anxiety provoking procedures within the hospital. Acknowledging that hospitals can be very intimidating and that along the care  pathway there is often the necessity to undertake painful or potentially frightening procedures, we wanted to ensure that these were being managed optimally. The working group, including members from the medical, nursing, education, pain management, palliative care and advocacy teams worked to:

  • Understand the child and family experience and include their voice in the planning. A very powerful short movie was made by the RXradio team in which the children and parents shared their experiences of painful procedures in the hospital and gave their advice – this was the foundation of the recommendations that followed.
  • Review and update hospital policy on the management of procedural pain.
  • Work to improving practise in the hospital. Two education sessions were held, one at the medical and the one at eth surgical department of paediatrics academic meetings. Posters were placed in all wards and areas area procedures are undertaken and champions in various areas, lead by pain management lead Sr Angie Schrikker,identified to ensure ongoing oversight and training.
  • Medication guidelines and access to necessary medication was reviewed and updated. Laminated summarised tables were placed in all procedural areas and pathways to ensure access to and easy use of local anaesthetic creams and medication were improved.
  • Ongoing review to include this in integrated paediatric medical student, nursing and allied health training as well as CME initiatives within the hospital.

More Information

Website contact person: Di Gray diane.gray@uct.ac.za, 0761613171