Points & Pearls Excerpt

• There is mounting evidence showing that frequent painful procedures and pain episodes in infancy can have lasting psychological effects into adulthood.^5,7
• Studies demonstrate that many pediatric patients with abdominal pain do not receive pain medications in the prehospital encounter due to factors such as difficulty with intravenous (IV) access, inadequate pain assessment, and a misconception that children are resilient to pain.¹²
• There is no gold standard for pain scales in the preverbal patient. The severity of pain should be based on clinical factors in addition to the scale of choice.
• While parents are usually a crucial source of information, effort should be made to obtain information directly from the pediatric patient, as this facilitates patient-centered care. Parents may know that “something is off,” but the child can often help provide more precise direction through verbal and behavioral cues.