Hospitalisation and Pain

Sometime back, D was hospitalized with severe gastroenteritis (layman term: stomach flu).  It all started with me, then B and E.  Just when we thought D would be spared, it hit him so hard that he got dehydrated and a 1-night stay at the hospital for intravenous drip (IV drip).

At 5 year old, all he could tell was that he has a "knocking" pain in his tummy.  He could not rate how painful it was, unlike us adults where we could use associations.  So, I was pretty surprised with the use of a similar pain chart:

He could relate to the faces and let the nurses and doctor know how much it hurts.  Though it might not be a 100% fit, well, it never will  unless we use a pain detection device, I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

So the next time the kids complain of pain, this chart will be useful.