Pain experiences of marginalized children in the emergency department: A scoping review protocol

Elise Kammerer; Sarah A Elliott; Lisa Hartling; Calveen Basi; Liz Dennett; Jaspreet K Khangura; Shannon D Scott; Patricia Candelaria; Shannon Ruzycki; Samina Ali

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0296518

Pain experiences of marginalized children in the emergency department: A scoping review protocol

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 18;19(4):e0296518. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296518. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Elise Kammerer¹, Sarah A Elliott^{2

3}, Lisa Hartling^{1

2

3

4}, Calveen Basi⁵, Liz Dennett⁶, Jaspreet K Khangura⁷, Shannon D Scott⁸, Patricia Candelaria¹, Shannon Ruzycki⁹, Samina Ali^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
² Alberta Research Centre for Health Evidence, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
³ Department of Pediatrics, Cochrane Child Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁴ Women and Children's Health Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁵ Departments of Chemistry and Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁶ Geoffrey and Robyn Sperber Health Sciences Library, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁷ Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁸ Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Pain affects all children, and in hospitals across North America, this pain is often undertreated. Children who visit the emergency department (ED) experience similar undertreatment, and they will often experience a painful procedure as part of their diagnostic journey. Further, children and their caregivers who experience social injustices through marginalization are more likely to experience healthcare disparities in their pain management. Still, most of our knowledge about children's pain management comes from research focused on well-educated, white children and caregivers from a middle- or upper-class background. The aim of this scoping review is to identify, map, and describe existing research on (a) how aspects of marginalization are documented in randomized controlled trials related to children's pain and (b) to understand the pain treatment and experiences of marginalized children and their caregivers in the ED setting.

Methods and analysis: The review will follow Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews using the Participant, Concept, Context (PCC) framework and key terms related to children, youth, pain, ED, and aspects of marginalization. We will search Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library Trials, iPortal, and Native Health Database for articles published in the last 10 years to identify records that meet our inclusion criteria. We will screen articles in a two-step process using two reviewers during the abstract and full-text screening stages. Data will be extracted using Covidence for data management and we will use a narrative approach to synthesize the data.

Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval is not required for this review. Findings will be disseminated in academic manuscripts, at academic conferences, and with partners and knowledge users including funders of pain research and healthcare professionals. Results of this scoping review will inform subsequent quantitative and qualitative studies regarding pain experiences and treatment of marginalized children in the ED.

Copyright: © 2024 Kammerer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Emergency Service, Hospital
Healthcare Disparities*
Humans
Pain
Pain Management* / methods
Qualitative Research
Research Design
Review Literature as Topic
Social Marginalization

Grants and funding

SA, EK, JK, CB, PC, SA, LH, SS, SR, LZ received funding from the Alberta Health Services' Emergency Strategic Clinical Network Systematic and Scoping Review grant competition (https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/scns/Page9682.aspx). JK, EK, SA, CB, PC, SA, LH, SS, SR, and LZ further received funding from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians Grizzly Den grant (https://www.caep.ca). No funder had any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.