Pain Management in Children

PAIN MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN Adequate pain management should be viewed as an essential component of compassionate medical care of children. A child's developmental level frames the child's understanding of painful experiences. Cognition of the toddler: has the capacity for basic reasoning; understands object permanence; has the beginnings of memory; the understanding of causality; and begins to play "make believe". Toddlers language: vocabulary of over 20 words and can say two to three-word sentences. A three year …showed first 75 words of 628 total…

…showed last 75 words of 628 total…surgery are also very effective in controlling pain in children. Sedative and hypnotic drugs given in addition to the pain medications produce amnesia of painful events and reduce anxiety surrounding the pain. When dealing with children the number of procedures should be kept to a minimum. Multiple procedures should however be scheduled together. Procedures should not be done in the patients room except ICU. The parents should be allowed at the bedside when ever possible.