Psychological aspects of preparation for painful procedures

This chapter considers the assessment of anxiety and pain, what psychological preparation can achieve, how preparation can be carried out and aspects of psychological preparation that are specific to children. Many aspects of preparation focus on the patient’s biomedical status, but psychological aspects of preparation are also important. Accurate assessment of anxiety and pain has three purposes: to decide whether or not exceptional preparation is needed; to determine when psychological preparation is needed; and to assess whether or not preparation has been effective. Presurgical psychological preparation has benefits on a range of health outcomes. Psychological preparation can facilitate patient coping both before, during, and after painful procedures. Many painful procedures are performed on children who, because of their developmental stage, may not understand what is happening to them in the same way that adults would. The health professionals underestimated pain more, and individuals with family experience underestimated less, than the control observers.