The American Academy of Pediatrics has announced a new group of guidelines aimed at reducing the amount of pain and stress experienced by children during emergency room visits. For the study a team of doctors examined the choice of many ER doctors to avoid pain medications with children for fear of misdiagnosis.
According to the new study, however, use of topical pain medications and mild narcotics pain meds infrequently create false diagnoses and pain treatment could begin before children even reach the ER.
"There are a lot of modalities for reducing pain in children, and we're doing a lot better in terms of kids' pain than we used to," said lead researcher Dr. Joel Fein of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The report, published online on October 29 in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that topical pain meds in particular could be a way forward in creating less pain in the ER for kids:
"Children have a pretty significant fear of needles," Fein said. "Topical anesthesia can offer pain protection during IV line placement and [drawing blood]."
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