CPD

Medicines management in children and young people: pharmacological approaches to treat pain

Kate Davies Associate professor of paediatric prescribing and endocrinology, London South Bank University, and honorary research fellow in paediatric endocrinology, Queen Mary University of London, London, England

Why you should read this article:

• To enhance your knowledge of the physiology of pain
• To understand the various types of medicines used to manage pain in children and young people
• To contribute towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD (UK readers)
• To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

Pain management in children is often more complex than in adults, since pain in children can be more challenging to assess and therefore more challenging to treat. It is essential that children’s nurses have knowledge and understanding of the physiology of pain and the analgesics available to treat different types of pain. This article describes nociception and provides an overview of the three main groups of analgesics – non-opioids, opioids and adjuvants – that can be used in the pharmacological management of pain in children and young people.

Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2024.e1540

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@sausmash

Correspondence

kate.davies@lsbu.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Davies K (2024) Medicines management in children and young people: pharmacological approaches to treat pain. Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2024.e1540

Published online: 12 December 2024

Keywords :

analgesics - anti-inflammatories - child health - clinical - medicines - medicines management - nurse prescribing - pain - pain management - pharmacology - prescribing