At my workplace, a ward for children an adolesence with epilepsy and other neurodevelopmental disorders, we use many different tools to assess and score the children. Some of theese are:
– r-FLACC (revised – Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability)The r-FLACC is a pain assessment tool for children (3 months to 19 years) with physical and intellectual disabilities who are non-verbal.
– We aso use NRS (Numeric Rating Scale) and FPS-R (Faces Pain Scale-Revised)
– PEWS (Pediatric Early Warning Score) provides a standardized way to assess the child’s health condition, which can contribute to more accurate and consistent treatment.
We also do a comprehensive assessment using the biopsychosocial model as a way to understand the patient’s situation. There are many different templates available in DIPS, which is our electronic patient record system. We also use electronic charting where many of the tools are stored digitally. One challenge we face is that not all staff have the same level of experience using these tools.
We are in the process of implementing PaPas Scale (the Paediatric Palliative Screening Scale), but it has not been put into use yet. We need to spend time on training, implementation, and ensuring that the doctors can follow up by referring patients to the pediatric palliative care team.
