Management of Acute Pain in Children: Introduction

Pain in children most commonly results from injuries, illnesses or from the increasing number of needle stick procedures (immunizations, screening blood tests) that are performed as a part of preventive medicine strategies. Unrelieved pain can lead to considerable anxiety and distress and, in some instances, can have long-term physiological and behavioral consequences. Though it is impossible to prevent all sources of pain, information is now available to aid practitioners in providing safe and effective analgesic modalities for both prevention and treatment of childhood pain.