Managing acute pain in children

Overall we do not manage pain in children well.1,2 We seem not to recognise their particular needs and often fail to provide them with full analgesia. Recently we discussed the management of pain in infants.3 Now we tackle the management of pain in children over one year old. In this article we concentrate on acute pain, such as the pain of acute inflammation, trauma or postoperative pain. In the next issue we will look at the management of pain in children with chronic illness.