Modern concepts of paediatric analgesia

Laboratory data, economic pressures, and the wish for humane treatment have been some of the driving forces behind improvements in paediatric pain management. Within the space of 10 years, there have been dramatic changes in the quality of treatment received by children undergoing surgical operations. Moreover, those receiving medical treatment, for example, sickle cell disease, have also benefited from increased experience in pain management. Children receiving care in specialised centres can now expect to benefit from up-to-date techniques of pain management, such as patient-controlled analgesia, nurse-controlled analgesia, and epidural infusions. They will be managed by ward nurses experienced and trained in paediatric pain relief, they will be attended by nurses whose special interest and training is the management of children's pain, and they will be provided with the techniques of analgesia by competent, trained anaesthetic staff. Improved care, with close attention to pain relief, is not only humane, but improves the patient turnaround by enhancing rapid discharge. Further education is required to spread these benefits to children being managed outside highly specialised centres. Not only education, but investment, is needed also to ensure that all children receive a standard of care second to none.