Evaluating the French version of an online training course for a pediatric pain assessment scale

Context: There is no French-language training to educate nurses on the use of the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) pain scale, whose scores guide the treatment of pediatric pain.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate a French online training program for the FLACC scale offered to Francophone undergraduate nursing students.

Methods: Online training was offered to nursing students enrolled in a pediatric nursing course. Participants completed online questionnaires pre- and post-training to assess their perception of their knowledge and confidence, the accuracy of their pain assessment scores, as well as the usefulness and user-friendliness of the training.

Results: The FLACC online training improved students’ perceived knowledge (p = 0.0004) and confidence (p = 0.0053) in the FLACC pediatric pain scale. Students’ accuracy of severe pain assessment scores significantly improved (p = 0.0159) and slightly improved for moderate pain (p = 0.6363). However, accuracy for mild pain assessment was slightly decreased post-training (p = 0.7686).

Discussion: An improvement of the quality of videos linked to mild pain, and the quantity of videos for all levels of pain, is required for this study to be replicated among a larger sample.

Conclusion: The online training fills the gap in nurses’ lack of knowledge about the use of the FLACC pain scale and improves access to quality training in French.