3 Poor communication

A child’s admission to hospital is often a scary and daunting prospect. However, Simons et al. (2024) revealed that some nurses sometimes forget to explain to a child and parent how hospital works. This can add to the feelings of anxiety.

For more than 20 years, it has been recognised that poor communication between nurses and parents contributes to children experiencing unnecessary pain (Simons et al., 2001; Simons and Roberson, 2002). Poor parent–nurse communication has also been reported as the main reason for dissatisfaction related to postoperative pain management among parents (Valizadeh et al., 2016; Nascimento et al., 2010).

Kampouroglou et al. (2020) explored the issue of parental health literacy and noted that where parents have low levels of health literacy they experienced higher levels of parental anxiety. Therefore, a lack of understanding on the parents’/carers’ part around how hospitals work can be stress inducing and can mean parents/carers are unaware that they need to alert a nurse to their child’s pain.

Figure 3 A child’s admission to hospital is often a scary and daunting experience

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Two parents/carers standing in the foreground looking sad/stressed. Behind them is a girl sat in bed.

Figure 3 A child’s admission to hospital is often a scary and daunting experience

As a result of a parent/carer not immediately approaching a nurse when their child is in pain, pain levels can escalate. Not only does this lead to the child experiencing unnecessary pain, but by the time a parent/carer approaches a nurse about their child’s pain they may be tense, anxious and frustrated about waiting for help. Unfortunately, nurses who have been busy elsewhere won’t be aware of this build-up.

Moreover, differences in how different parents/carers and nurses respond to a given situation can make ensuring effective communication difficult. For example, one nurse taking part in the Simons et al. study (2024) commented: ‘Some parents just don’t want to speak. Some parents don’t want to bother us. Some parents on the other side want to shout at us.’

Nurses also provide care in different ways depending on their individual practice and personality (Simons et al., 2024) as suggested by the following quotes:

So, parents/carers can experience different levels of engagement and care, depending on which nurse is looking after their child.

You will now look at one of the primary challenges parents/carers face when trying to communicate with a nurse about their child’s pain: nurse busyness.