A Child in Pain: What Health Professionals Can Do to Help

This comprehensive book is designed to help pediatric health professionals of all disciplines gain understanding and skill in how to approach and treat children's pain, and how to help children make sense of and deal with their own pain. Pain is the most common reason for children to seek a medical consultation - and sometimes a common reason for avoiding it. Unaddressed fears and anxiety complicate pain management and recovery. A central theme in this book is the examination of children's fears and anxieties that accompany their need for pain relief, and the communication skills and words that can help calm these fears. This book is addressed to all disciplines, in its valuing of the professional-patient relationship and in the language used to allay anxiety, address fears and promote relief and well-being. It is organized into three parts:Part I explores our scientific understanding of pain as a part of children's development. Part II explores pain treatments themselves, their efficacies and how to combine them for therapeutic impact. Part III uses this understanding to help translate knowledge into clinical practice in three domains of pediatric medicine: the physicians' practice, the dental practice, and in the hospital. This volume also includes contributions by Dr. Jonathan Kuttner, on the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of pain, Dr. Carl von Baeyer on pain assessment, and Drs Stefan Freidrichsdorf and Helen Karl on the pharmacological management of pain.Without doubt, this volume will stand as the "bible" on pediatric pain management for years to come.