Pediatric Pain Management (EMS)

Pediatric Pain Management: Prehospital Recognition, Assessment, & Treatment

Brian Merry

One of the most under-recognized, under-assessed, and under-treated symptoms in all of pre-hospital medicine is pediatric pain. Providers have shared that it is often due to inadequate exposure and education and an overall fear of approaching pediatric patients that they undertreat their pain. Left untreated, long-term pain experienced by the patient can cause lasting effects. Our difficulty is often the inability to assess for pain in this patient population; therefore, in this lecture, we will discuss different methods of assessment in children to help us recognize pediatric pain and how to properly treat it in both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic methods.