In China, congenital heart disease (CHD) has been the
leading cause of neonatal death among all congenital defects
with approximately 100,000 new cases each year (Liu et al.
2000). Currently, surgery is the major treatment method for
these children. It is estimated that 70% of children experience
moderate to severe pain after cardiac surgery, especially on
the first postoperative day (Ren 2006, Gu et al. 2009). Study
has found that children suffered more pain during the first
three postoperative days, with consecutive mean face, legs,
activity, cry, consolability (FLACC) pain scores of 7Æ4, 5Æ9
and 4Æ9, respectively (Gu et al. 2009). Another study showed
that the FLACC scores ranged from 2Æ23 to 5Æ88 during the
first 36 hours after surgery (Long 2010). The lack of
agreement regarding pain severity in these two studies may
be the result of unclear research designs and data collection
strategies, which jeopardise the fidelity and generalisability of
these results.