Experts claim pediatricians tend to ignore pain
Print Edition
MANY Chinese parents, and even pediatricians, have poor awareness about children’s pain that can have serious effects on their physical, psychological and social development, local experts warned yesterday.
According to the World Health Organization, which has declared October 11 as Global Day against Pain, pain is the fifth sign after blood pressure, pulse, breath and temperature. However, clinical practice in domestic hospitals does not have enough awareness or takes measures to deal with children’s pain.
Parents too fail to give children proper guidance and support to help them.
Controlling children’s acute and chronic pain is very important for any treatments to have their effect, better life quality and even allowing children suffering from cancer to get through their last days peacefully.
A person can feel pain since a 26-week-old fetus. Usually children’s pain is ignored by medical staff and parents as the kids cannot describe the pain in proper language.
“Chinese hospitals’ pain management was introduced much later than in the West and the awareness to children’s pain control was poorer than adult patients,” said Dr Zhang Mazhong, vice president of Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, which is the first batch of local hospitals to introduce children’s pain service in 2004.
Local children’s hospitals have started to decorate facilities and hospital buildings with cartoon pictures, create better medication plan with less adverse reaction, listen to children’s demands and allow parents to watch anesthesia being given before surgery to ease their discomfort.
“We plan to invite children to visit an operation room before surgery and allow them to bring their favorite toy with them,” Dr Zhang said, adding it could help ease their anxiety.
“Everyone has a right to be pain-free,” he said.
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