Health care professionals' pain narratives in hospitalized children's medical records. Part 2: structure and content.

Background: Although clinical narratives - described as free-text notations--have been noted to be a source of patient information, no studies have examined the composition of pain narratives in hospitalized children's medical records.

Objectives: To describe the structure and content of health care professionals' narratives related to hospitalized children's acute pain.

Methods: All pain narratives documented during a 24 h period were collected from the medical records of 3822 children (0 to 18 years of age) hospitalized in 32 inpatient units in eight Canadian pediatric hospitals.

Health care professionals' pain narratives in hospitalized children's medical records. Part 1: pain descriptors.

Background: Although documentation of children's pain by health care professionals is frequently undertaken, few studies have explored the nature of the language used to describe pain in the medical records of hospitalized children.

Objectives: To describe health care professionals' use of written language related to the quality and quantity of pain experienced by hospitalized children.

Methods: Free-text pain narratives documented during a 24 h period were collected from the medical records of 3822 children (0 to 18 years of age) hospitalized on 32 inpatient units in eight Canadian pediatric hospitals.

A qualitative review of the psychometric properties and feasibility of electronic headache diaries for children and adults: where we are and where we need to go.

Background: While paper headache pain diaries have been used to determine the effectiveness of headache treatments in clinical trials, recent advances in information and communication technologies have resulted in the burgeoning use of electronic diaries (e-diaries) for headache pain.

Objective: To qualitatively review headache e-diaries, assess their measurement properties, examine measurement components and compare these components with recommended reporting guidelines.

Methods: The databases Medline, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, PsychInfo, the Education Resources Information Centre and ISI Web of Science were searched for self-report headache e-diaries for children and adults.

Pain assessment and intensity in hospitalized children in Canada.

Unlabelled: Numerous acute pediatric pain assessment measures exist; however, pain assessment is not consistently performed in hospitalized children. The objective of this study was to determine the nature and frequency of acute pain assessment in Canadian pediatric hospitals and factors influencing it. Pain assessment practices and pain intensity scores documented during a 24-hour period were collected from 3,822 children aged 0 to 18 years hospitalized on 32 inpatient units in 8 Canadian pediatric hospitals.

What nurses want: diffusion of an innovation.

We investigated the usability of personal digital assistants (PDAs) to improve research utilization and timely access to electronic practice information to assist in clinical decisions. Nurses used a decision support tool on a PDA to collect point-of-care outcomes data. Follow-up interviews documented usability.