It is only the last 50 years that pain in infants, children and adolescents has been recognized as a significant problem in health care. The initial reasons for any pain management were not mainly humane, but instead to enable medical interventions such as surgery and diagnostic procedures without “fuss”. For example, until late 80’s, heart surgery was performed on newborn infants with only muscle relaxants, to prevent them from moving.
Today both science and clinical practice have come further. Children are considered having their own value as stated in the UN Declaration on the Right of the Child and we know much about what causes pain, what the consequences of pain are, how we should identify and assess pain, and how we should prevent and treat pain.
And yet, it is known that pediatric pain is still under-diagnosed and undertreated. The reasons for this are partly limited resources but also wrong routines and wrong attitudes. This lecture will build on the latest evidence on how to provide family- and child-centered care and pain management and on principles that can guide this work.