BEST PRACTICE
Management of pain in childhood
Correspondence to:
For correspondence:
Dr Emily Harrop
SPR in Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK; emilyharrop@yahoo.com
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage". This simple definition is elegantly inclusive of the various types of pain experienced by adults. However, it also highlights some of the problems associated with the recognition of paediatric pain. Firstly, the emotional response may be quantitatively or qualitatively different in the youngest infants,1 and secondly the very assumption that the patient can describe their pain may be unrealistic. The definition was therefore clarified more recently by the addition of the statement "the inability to communicate in no way negates the possibility that an individual is experiencing pain and is in need of appropriate pain-relieving treatment". The IASP has just concluded its first Global Year Against Child Pain with a statement on "Why Children’s Pain Matters": "The United
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