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Easing pain in children
1Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio 43205-2696, USA.
Insights
Pediatric pain management is improving, moving beyond past neglect. Trauma nurses play a key role in effective pain control through assessment, pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, and monitoring.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric nursing
- Pain management
Background:
- Historically, pediatric pain assessment and management were neglected.
- Recent advancements signal an end to the "dark ages of pain" for children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the crucial role of trauma nurses in pediatric pain management.
- To outline effective strategies for improving pain control in pediatric patients.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing multiple assessment methods to quantify pain severity.
- Implementing a multimodal approach combining pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions.
- Rigorously monitoring and documenting the effectiveness of pain management strategies.
Main Results:
- Trauma nurses can significantly impact patient outcomes through proactive pain management.
- Simple, combined strategies lead to more effective pain relief.
Conclusions:
- Trauma nurses are essential members of the pediatric pain management team.
- Comprehensive pain management involves assessment, intervention, and diligent monitoring for optimal pediatric care.
Abstract:
The assessment and management of pain in children has been essentially ignored until recently. Thankfully, these "dark ages of pain" are ending. The trauma nurse is an integral part of the pain management team and can have a positive impact on outcome by using a combination of relatively simple strategies. These include using multiple types of assessment to measure the severity of pain; providing adequate pain relief with a combination of pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions; and carefully monitoring and documenting the efficacy of all pain management approaches.