Comfort Menu: Easing Pain, Fear and Anxiety for Our Young Patients
By Victoria Scheuer
Getting a shot or experiencing a procedure that involves pain or discomfort isn’t any fun, especially for kids. But at Cook Children’s, we have resources to help reduce the pain and anxiety for both patients and families.
Research has shown that young patients often remember the pain from medical experiences such as shots, enemas or NG tube placements, and internalize fears that impact them the next time they come for care. This fear can last all the way into adulthood. The result – both kids and parents can feel great apprehension about receiving medical care because of expected pain and fear.
The Comfort Menu was developed to lessen pain and fear and make healthcare experiences less scary for both the patient and the family. The pain management tool includes several options available to help manage pain, such as offering a child an item for distraction, providing sugar water to infants, or using a Buzzy device, which uses ice and vibration to block pain signals to the brain.
It provides a visual tool for families and staff to use to kick start a conversation on how to best treat the patient. After all, communication and collaboration between patients, family members and caregivers is so important to managing pain and providing a safe patient and team experience.
“If a patient isn’t feeling safe, nothing else matters,” said Whitney Brosey, Comfort Menu Program Coordinator.
Use of the Comfort Menu promotes Cook Children’s Promise of “Everything for the Child.” It gets to the core of who we are because every child deserves an equal opportunity to have their fear and pain assessed and addressed.
For Cook Children’s staff who work with patients, please remember to keep the Comfort Menu options in mind and recommend that families talk to their health care team about options available to their child.
By looking through the experience through the patient’s eyes, we can better understand what they are thinking and feeling and respond with empathy.