Additional resources

Some of the resources below are in PDF format - see how to access PDF files.

RCN Pain in Children and Young People Community
The forum community champions optimum pain management for children and young people. You will find here details of the community team members and its aims and objectives. For further information about RCN communities and how to join see RCN forum communities.

Principles of Nursing Practice
The Principles of Nursing Practice articulate what can be expected of nursing in any setting regardless of provider, and were developed with a range of stakeholders, including nurses, patients and service users. As such they are very relevant to the effective uptake of clinical guidelines, and it is important to consider and incorporate all of the Principles as part of the implementation process. This resource provides information about the Principles including how they are used to support quality improvement initiatives. 

Using clinical guidelines is also important in supporting the implementation of the Principles. There are clear links between use of clinical guidelines and Principle F (awareness and appropriate use of up to date evidence), as well as Principle G (ensuring that patients’ care is co-ordinated and of a high standard). Visit the Principles.

Useful links

Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists (2012) Good Practice in postoperative and procedural pain 2nd ed
This updated guideline for the management of postoperative and procedural pain in children developed by a multidisciplinary guideline development group which included the Royal College of Nursing, addresses and updates many of the issues explored by the RCN’s 2009 guideline on the recognition and assessment of acute pain in children. The APA’s guideline presents evidence-based recommendations and good practice points and should be referred to as the most up-to-date source. The guideline is made available as a supplement to Pediatric Anesthesia volume 22 July 2012.

Essence of Care: 2010
Essence of Care has been updated and now contains 12 benchmarks, following a consultation exercise late in 2009. A review of the benchmarks led to a proposed new benchmark for pain management to be used in caring for children, young people and adults. The benchmarks provide a structured and patient-centred approach to identifying best practice and setting standards for these fundamental aspects of care, and highlight the importance of seeking patient and carer opinion. They act as a tool for sharing and comparing practice, for developing action plans for improvement and audit, and for identifying education and training needs.

The other 11 areas are: bladder, bowel and continence care; the care environment; communication; food and drink; personal hygiene; prevention and management of pressure ulcers; health and well-being; record-keeping; respect and dignity; safety and self care.

The Essence of Care (EoC), was first launched in 2001 and emerging from the 1999 nursing strategy 'Making a difference', formed the basis of a Government strategy for improving the quality of care and became an integral element of the clinical governance agenda. This edition supersedes the previous versions originating since 2001. 

National Service Framework for children, young people and maternity services
This page on the Department of Health's website provides access to documents relevant to the NSF for children, young people and maternity services such as the core standards. There is a separate standard for children and young people who are ill (standard 6). Included within this are standards for pain management.

Endorsement organisations

The RCN children's pain guideline has been formally endorsed by the following organisations:

In addition, the children's pain guideline is supported by the Royal College of Anaesthetists Faculty of Pain Medicine. 

Promotion

The following events held presentations / posters about the guideline:

A copy of the presentation given at the RCN Annual Research Conference in April 2009 is available. View: Ouch! Developing and updating the RCN guideline on the recognition and assessment of acute pain in children (PDF 502KB).

An article has been published describing the process undertaken by the RCN in developing the updated guideline:
Stapelkamp C, Carter B, Gordon J and Watts C (2011) Assessment of acute pain in children: development of evidence-based guidelines, International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare 9(1) March pp.39-50.

International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare is available via the RCN e-journals.
An abstract of the article is also available on the publishers website – see International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare volume 9, Issue 1 2011.

Further RCN resources

RCN e-library

The RCN e-library, which can be accessed using your membership number, provides:

Each of these resources has a short online demonstration illustrating how to use them. You can access this from the pages above. For further advice on using the resources and related queries use the virtual enquiry service.

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