An Investigation of Using Non-Pharmacological Methods in Pain Management in Postoperative Period in Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of nonpharmacological methods used by nurses in the management of postoperative pain in pediatric patients aged 0-18 years. In this descriptive study, the research population consisted of studies that were accessed from the National Thesis Center database by using the keywords “pediatric”, “pain”, “surgical”, “postoperative”, “and non-pharmacological” in different combinations in the literature search and that examined non-pharmacological methods used for pain management in the postoperative period in pediatric patients between the ages of 0-18 years in the last seven years and were conducted in experimental design. This systematic review was carried out using the PRISMA flowchart steps. A total of 1185 individuals, including 905 children and 280 parents, took part in 11 studies. The mean age of the children in the studies was 6.6 years (min-max). The most preferred scale to measure pain in the postoperative period was the Wong-Baker Facial Pain Scale (7 studies). Non-pharmacologic methods used in the studies included distraction (5 studies), therapeutic play (3 studies), distraction and therapeutic play (1 study), massage therapy (1 study), and music therapy (1 study). Different non-pharmacological methods used in the postoperative period are effective in reducing pain levels in children.