Non Pharmacological Research Papers

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to review four articles on non-pharmacological pain relievers for children during painful and invasive procedures. According to the literature review, the use of animal therapy showed positive outcome in pediatric population. Another research that involved 14 experienced nurses also found the use of non-pharmacological methods such as bubbles, breathing exercises, offering new toys, and singing to be efficient during painful procedures. One more study that included 100 children 6-15 years old proved the use of breathing techniques to be effective as well. Another randomized controlled study included 123 children 6-12 and also showed that the use of distraction cards to be efficient. According to the evidence
For this reason, it is our goal as nurses to try lessen this unpleasant experience for children as pain is manageable and preventable if proper strategies are utilized and incorporated by the healthcare professionals. This can be achieved by using different pain relieving non-pharmacological techniques besides medications. Nurses should not only rely on pharmaceutical products to relieve pain , but also use other ways that are able to decrease pain in children such as breathing techniques, distraction, and comforting that make it easier for children to tolerate painful situations. Relying on drugs is not always the best choice, as it usually has many side effects along with its beneficial ones on a human body and especially pediatric patients. Moreover, there are many complications with medicating children such as calculating a right dose as well as adverse reactions to medications. One of the major non-pharmacological method is to decrease a child’s emotion of fear because fear tends to increase the perception of pain. Preparing a child before certain procedure by the use of non-pharmacological methods like letting the child take control over the situation at some moment during the procedure will help alleviate the painful experience that comes with the
Pet Partners (2012) explained that the animals are required to go through specific training that are offered by licensed programs that would let them become certified before they can assist the patients with particular needs. The training includes learning of basic commands in a particular facility that teaches obedience that would enhance proper behavior (Pet Partners, 2012a; Rossetti & King, 2010). Dogs are known to be among the most widespread AAT animals and must have all up to date vaccinations to make sure that the animal is not sick and won’t spread any dangerous infections to the patient (Marcus, 2012; Pet Partners, 2012a). As mentioned above, there are two types of animal facilitated therapy. First one includes animal -assisted activities that involve playing with the animals such as visiting the patients and simply be a part of their regular activities without any particular treatment purpose. Second one is animal-assisted therapy which is goal-directed and help to improve patients’ physical, emotional, mental, and social problems by engaging the animal into a treatment plan (Pet Partners, 2012a). Research by Sobo et.al (2006) illustrated that pediatric patients with pain have benefited physiologically and psychologically