Children's Pain at Home After Laparoscopic Appendectomy.

BACKGROUND

Hospitalized children experience moderate-to-severe pain after laparoscopic appendectomy, but knowledge of children's pain experiences after discharge home is limited. Accurate pain assessments are needed to guide appropriate pain treatment.

AIMS: To describe children's pain at home after laparoscopic appendectomy.

DESIGN

Prospective exploratory and descriptive

METHODS

A convenience sample of 100 patients, aged 10-17 years, who spoke or wrote in English or Spanish, volunteered to complete 14-day pain diaries at home after laparoscopic appendectomy. Visual analytic techniques were used to analyze patterns of pain experiences.

RESULTS

Diaries were returned by 45 patients/parents, the majority of whom were White (64%), male (56%), adolescents (mean age 14 years) with no previous surgical history (70%), and whose appendix was inflamed (87%) but not perforated. More than 50% reported severe pain (4 or 5 on a 0-5 scale) on the first full day home after laparoscopic appendectomy. On day 7, 40% reported pain and on day 14, 16% were still reporting pain. Only rarely were pain scores not clinically significantly lower 1 hour after pain treatment, regardless of treatment type (e.g., nondrug, nonopioid, opioid). Reported pain intensity steadily decreased over time as did frequency of recorded pain scores.

CONCLUSION

Adolescents experience severe pain at home after laparoscopic appendectomy and some experience pain for 7 to 14 days after hospital discharge. Visual analytics better represent the dynamics of pain experiences than measures of central tendency.