Analgesic Guidelines for Infants and Children

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Encyclopedia of Pain
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Synonyms

Drug guidelines; Pediatric dosing guidelines

Definition

The goal of administering analgesia is to relieve pain without intentionally producing a sedated state.

Characteristics

Oral Analgesics

Analgesics include acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and opioids. While acetaminophen and opioids remain the cornerstone for providing analgesia for our youngest patients, the scope and diversity of drugs expand as those patients grow older. Adjuvant analgesics include a variety of drugs with analgesic properties that were initially developed to treat other health problems. These adjuvant analgesics (such as anticonvulsants and antidepressants) have become a cornerstone of pain control for children with chronic pain, especially when pain has a neuropathic component.

Pain control should include regular pain assessments, appropriate analgesics and adjuvant analgesics administered at regular dosing intervals, adjunctive drug therapy for symptom and side effects control,...

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Correspondence to Stephen C. Brown .

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Brown, S.C. (2013). Analgesic Guidelines for Infants and Children. In: Gebhart, G.F., Schmidt, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_200

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