Teething. Otitis media. Bumps and bruises. A fall from a skate board. These are just a few of the many types of events that may befall our children and can cause significant discomfort. Any parent who’s been up with a child all night with a raging ear infection knows how uncomfortable that experience may be for both the child and the parent! Adults presenting to an emergency department with otitis media often request morphine, so there is no doubt to the level of pain one might experience with common childhood conditions such as otitis.
The “Pediatric Pearls” reader may now recognize from past publications that children are not mini-adults, and their physiology, biology, and how they experience the world can vastly differ from that of grown-ups. For the non-verbal child, pain experiences may be more heightened due to their inability to express their discomfort (not because they are not having pain). Managing pain in children is an important topic, and I will provide some of my favorite insights and tools in helping practitioners navigate the array of childhood pain complaints.










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