Visiting Patients at Driscoll Children's Hospital

Managing Your Child’s Pain

Your child may experience pain during and after your visit to the hospital. We have created this pamphlet to let you know how to assist us in keeping your child as comfortable as possible.
Some parents have expressed fears about giving narcotic pain medicine to their child. There are several myths and misconceptions that have developed that can interfere with managing pain in children. Here are two:

• Myth-Addiction to Narcotics

As a parent you may fear that your child will develop an addiction to the narcotic medication that has been
prescribed by your physician. The truth is that addiction to narcotics is very rare when used for children in true pain.

• Misconception-The Difficulty in Assessing Pain in Non-verbal Children

Parents of an infant or a developmentally delayed child may fear that pain assessment by caregivers may be inaccurate. The parent may feel that the caregiver may not give pain medicines correctly since the child is not able to verbally describe pain. We have developed many different tools to assess pain for every child.

Here are a few examples of ways we can assess and manage your child's pain:

The caregiver can use a pain scale to find out how much pain your child is experiencing. We can ask the parent to help us in assessing for pain. You know your child and how he/she responds to pain. You can let us know if you think your child is in pain and how your child behaves when in pain. It is also helpful to know what you do to comfort your child at home. Your child may be in pain if he/she does not respond to soothing, holding, cuddling, or feeding. Child Life has a pamphlet that can help you assist your child in coping with pain.

There are several medications which may be used to decrease your child's pain:

It is very important that your child is treated early because it is more difficult to control pain if it is not taken care of at the beginning.

During your stay in the hospital:

We will be watching your child for any side effects from the pain medications and will treat them accordingly. Some early side effects include nausea, vomiting and being sleepy. Constipation can happen in a few days. Notify your caregiver if more serious side effects occur such as difficulty breathing, developing a rash or if he/she
continues to have pain after getting pain medicine. If you have an older child, a PCA pump may be ordered which will safely deliver pain medication when your child pushes a button. The pump is monitored frequently by the caregiver and is a safe way for the older child to have some control in his/her own care.

When you go home:

As the parent, you will be responsible in giving your child their pain medicine. We will give you the information needed to assess for pain. You will receive discharge information on the name, the amount, and how often the
medicine can be given. Watch for the side effects described above. You should call your doctor if you have any concerns or questions or if any of the serious side effects described above develop in your child.

Contact Information

For more information, call (361) 694-4035 or email us at guestservices@dchcc.org

For questions or concerns, please call Patient Relations at (361) 694-4035 or email us at guestservices@dchcc.org.

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Managing Your Child’s Pain

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What Parents Need to Know

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