Understanding and managing pain in children is essential, especially in places like hospitals.
Sometimes, it's hard to figure out why a crying child or baby is upset.
This can be a challenge in hospitals where taking care of children's pain is really important.
It's essential to detect pain
Pain can be harmful to kids. If they experience pain a lot or for a long time, it can make them more sensitive to pain and even affect their brains.
It might also lead to emotional, behavioral, and learning issues.
The good news is a nursing researcher talks about the importance of using guidelines to understand and manage pain in children.
More about the research
Alicia Kleinhans mentions that following guidelines for pain and sedation management in kids in intensive care can help relieve pain while reducing risks like breathing problems, withdrawal, and confusion.
Knowing these guidelines can help healthcare providers decrease problems, hospital stays, and the need for ventilators.
Kleinhans also points out that understanding how to assess pain properly and use the latest research findings can help reduce the use of opioids.
Opioids have many side effects and contribute to the opioid epidemic.
There are different ways to assess pain in kids, like using scales for those who can talk and other scales for those who can't.
The goal is to match the right treatment to the child's level of pain.
Using these guidelines can improve pain management for kids and make their hospital experience better.
