Several pain assessment tools are now available for use with children, hut none are appropriate for children of all apes. Jayne Qureshi and Sylvia Buckingham describe PATCh, a single pain assessment tool suitable for all children

Ten years ago the study of pain in children was in its infancy, but since then interest in the area has proliferated, leading to a new under-f standing of the issues surrounding pain in children. Although theories of pain, such as the popular ‘gate control theory’ (1)have mostly been applied to the adult, research has now unequivocally demon-. strated that infants have well developed pain pathways from birth and there foredo feel pain (2). There are now creative and effective ways of controlling children’spain, such as patient-controlled a nalgesia(3,4,5), and a galaxy of pain assessment tools for children, with a large body of people interested in the area. So why design yet another tool? The answer lies in a review of some of the most popular, and most useful pain assessment tools.