BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Pain management is one of the most important indicators for nursing care quality. Pain management is still ineffective and inadequate in pediatric wards. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate pain management nursing in pediatric wards and suggest practical solutions with regard to pediatric pain control.

METHODS: In this review article, Iranian (i.e., MagIran, Iran Medex, Irandoc, and SID) and international (i.e., Medline, Google Scholar, Google, and Science Direct) databases were searched, using the following keywords and their Farsi equivalents: “pain management”, “pediatric”, “nurse”, “barriers”, and “hospital”. Among 4064 studies, 51 relevant articles, published during 1994-2015, were retrieved and reviewed in this study.

FINDINGS: In total, eight challenging areas were recognized in pediatric pain management, which are as follows: limited theoretical knowledge and insufficient skills of nursing staff, nurses’ personal beliefs, organizational barriers, characteristics of parents and children, lack of professional interaction, ambiguous role of nurses in pain management, lack of parental involvement or children’s participation in pain management, and scarcity of local models for pain management.  

CONCLUSION: By identifying nursing challenges and proposing practical solutions (e.g., modifications in organizational structure), we hope to take a major step towards removing barriers against pediatric pain management.