Using Pictures to Assess Pain Location in Children.

Purpose: This study uses the Pain Area Locator (PAL) tool, a picture communication aid with body and medical equipment icons, to identify pain location in postoperative pediatric patients and assesses discrepancies between nurses' pain location assessment and pain location identified using the PAL tool.

Design: This descriptive study used a quantitative, comparative design, with a convenience sample of pediatric postoperative patients undergoing same-day surgeries at a free-standing, acute care, Magnet designated pediatric hospital.

Methods: The child's pain location was assessed by asking the child to point to one of the 12 pictures on the PAL tool of where they hurt.

Use of picture communication aids to assess pain location in pediatric postoperative patients.

Children undergoing surgical procedures may have difficulty communicating. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) picture communication may provide a standard communication strategy for postoperative children and facilitate nurse-patient communication. The study purposes were to (1) determine if inconsistency exists between nurse assessments of pain location versus identification of pain location using AAC picture communication aids and (2) determine parent satisfaction with use of AAC picture communication aids.