Assessing acute and chronic pain in children and young people.

Accurate assessment of pain in children and young people is an essential nursing skill that forms the basis of any pain management intervention. This article outlines the different tools available to assess acute and chronic pain in children and young people. Validity and reliability of these tools is discussed and the importance of factors such as level of cognitive development and age are emphasised.

Nurse-controlled analgesia (NCA) following major surgery in 10,000 patients in a children's hospital.

Background And Objectives: Patients who received NCA with morphine following major surgery between 1996 and 2008 at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK, were prospectively studied in the postoperative period to determine effectiveness, morphine requirements, incidence of common side effects, and serious adverse events.

Methods: The morphine NCA regimen and monitoring was according to standard hospital protocols. Data were collected prospectively and subsequently entered by trained personnel into a secure database.