Associated Press
CHICAGO — Infants usually cry when they get circumcised. Children often wince when they get shots. Some young cancer patients dread giving blood samples.
Children feel pain as much as adults, and doctors should do more to relieve their pain from injuries, illnesses and medical procedures, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Pain Society declared Tuesday in a new joint policy statement.
"Children are needlessly suffering," said Dr. Michael Ashburn, APS president and director of pain programs at the University of Utah. "Poorly treated pain following a procedure can lead to prolonged healing and make children at a higher risk for adverse side effects."
Doctors need to re-evaluate their routines to better anticipate and assess pain in children, create a soothing environment in their offices and involve parents in preventive measures, the statement said. It also recommended that pediatricians press for child-specific research in pain management and urge the Food and Drug Administration to evaluate pain relievers for children.
Even during minor procedures such as getting a shot, most children do not have the same ability as adults to calm themselves when they feel pain, Ashburn said.
"If you wait until you start poking the child with needles, it’s too late," he said.
The statement appears in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Pediatricians have been hampered because the FDA has not approved potent pain relievers for youngsters, said Dr. Joseph Zanga, chairman of pediatrics at Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital of Loyola in Maywood, Ill.
"That’s a terrible indictment in this country for the treatment of pain in children," he said.
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