PAIN ASSESSMENT IN CHILDREN

Course overview

Assessing and managing pain in children is complicated and challenging for numerous reasons: there are limitations as to which analgesics can be appropriately prescribed to children; it is difficult to assess pain in infants, in preverbal young children, and in intellectually disabled children; there is a lack of clinician training in this area; the varying cognitive stages of development affect a child’s ability to report pain; healthcare professionals’ practice traditions, personal biases, and misconceptions about pain experienced by children (e.g., that infants do not feel pain due to their immature nervous systems). This continuing education module is designed to give the reader/learner an increased understanding of pain assessment in children, including use of appropriate pain assessment tools, the self-report method of pain assessment, and assessing pain in infants and pre-verbal children to aid in caring for the patient with this diagnosis. Readers may explore any or all of the topics. One contact hour of continuing education credit is available for those who successfully complete the post-test and evaluation form.