Actitud del personal de enfermería hacia el ni？o con dolor.: Antofagasta, Chile. Noviembre 2001- enero 2002

hospitalized child, independently of the cause originating its admission, is exposed to pain. commonest expression of displeasure in child is by means of crying, to which different cuases are attributed, but hardly ever is considered as pain manifestation, mainly by ignorance of its physiologic, physiopathologic, and pharmacologic basic principles. aim of this study was to identify attitude of nursing staff in pediatrics service of regional hospital in antofagasta, chile, toward child with pain, and to characterize some factors related to this attitude. in this context, general aims of research included identification of nursing staff attitude toward child with pain: favourable or unfavourable, and to relate that atitude with some sociodemographic factors of staff: age, type of origin family, religious beliefs, marital state, motherhood, personal happiness, profession or trade (nursing assistant and nurses), professional experience, laboral experience caring children, laboral satisfaction, family experiences of children with pain, primary training (during training), and secondary training ( in laboral life) in this matter. a descriptive study was conducted with a transversal and correlation design from november 2001 to january 2002 in antofagasta city. sample included 48 nurses and paramedical technicians working in pediatrics service of regional hospital in antofagasta, 43 of them were included in selected sample. results obtained allow us to relate only training variable with staff attitude toward child with pain.