Providing children with a medical
screen com-bined with the touchscreen computer to view during
dressing changes can relieve the
pain of children aged 1-3 suffering
from burns, according to a study
published in Burns. The use of a medical screen
also increased the satisfaction of the parents and
the wound therapist performing the dressing
change. Investigators conducted a randomized
controlled trial evaluating the impact of the
specially designed medical dressing screen during
wound dressing changes of children (n = 120)
in a burns and plastic reconstruction unit who
suffered burns to their hand or foot. Patients
were selected and randomly allocated to three
equal-sized groups as follows: control group, in
which they received only regular dressing changes;
computer group, in which a touch-screen
computer was used for children during dressing
changes; and medical screen group, in which a
medical screen combined with the touch-screen
computer were used for children during dressing
changes. All patients underwent a dressing change
once daily for 4 days. Data were distributed
im-mediately after each dressing during the 4
days. The pain level of the children evaluated by
medical staff was the primary outcome; the pain
level of the children evaluated by the parents and
the satisfaction of wound therapist were used as
second outcomes. The study found that the mean
scores related to pain level in the medical screen
group displayed significantly better results than
those in the control and computer groups.
