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[Pain in children: a pediatrician's point of view]
J L Bernard1, C Lautraite, P Reyes
1Hôpital pour enfants de la Timone, 13385 Marseille, France.
Insights
Pediatric pain management is improving due to better assessment tools, adapted medications, and education. Healthcare professionals are increasingly recognizing and treating children's pain effectively.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Pain Management
- Pharmacology
Context:
- Historically, children's pain was under-recognized and undertreated.
- Lack of knowledge on drug pharmacology and toxicity, along with unsuitable drug formulations, complicated pediatric pain management.
- Recent advancements have improved the approach to pediatric pain.
Purpose:
- To highlight the increasing interest and progress in pediatric pain management.
- To emphasize the need for improved strategies in primary care and hospital settings.
- To advocate for the role of managed care organizations in promoting best practices.
Summary:
- Improved pediatric pain management is driven by enhanced semiology and validated pain scales.
- Availability of adapted analgesic drugs and comprehensive education for caregivers and the public are crucial.
- Systematic preventive analgesia and interprofessional collaboration are vital in hospitals.
Impact:
- Enhanced recognition and treatment of pain in children.
- Improved patient outcomes through effective pain management strategies.
- Potential for wider adoption of best practices via managed care organizations.
Abstract:
The interest in the topic of pain in children is increasing within the paediatric community after a long period of misrecognition, often under-valuation, sometimes negligent or even denial. A lack of knowledge concerning pharmacology and toxicity of antalgic drugs and poorly adapted galenic presentations induced delay and complications in their use in children. The recent progress is supported by a better semiology, development of adequate pain scales, availability of adapted drugs, an effort at education of caregivers and public sensitization. In primary care the objective is to lead the practitioner to identify and consider pain in his/her preventive and curative strategies. In hospitals efforts are needed to improve the use of protocols and evaluations, the systematic practice of preventive analgesia and the quality of interprofessional cooperation within care teams. Managed care organizations are today an effective system to promote these practices.