Pain relief in children

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Abstract
Paediatric pain management has undergone significant change during the past decade, more so than many other areas of medical practice. Development has grown out of improved understanding of the physiological and psychological effects of unrelieved pain in children, greater insight into the benefits and risks of an aggressive approach to pain management, and greater knowledge of the clinical pharmacology of analgesic drugs in children. The trend towards specialised paediatric units staffed by professionals with training and experience in managing children's diseases has accelerated progress towards optimal pain management, whether for acute, chronic, or cancer pain. Unfortunately current practice still falls short of the ideal of safe and effective pain relief for all children. A longstanding problem in paediatric pain management has been the difficulty of objectively assessing pain. Assessment in infants before they can speak is particularly challenging and may have been responsible for perpetuating the myth …