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Pain Management
 We believe every child is entitled to appropriate pain management. Our goal at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital is to make your child's hospital stay as pain-free as possible. We do this by forming a partnership with parents to manage discomfort.
Unrelieved pain may cause anxiety, irritability, exhaustion and sometimes even depression. Pain may also slow healing and disrupt treatment.
Proper pain management results in greater comfort during healing and a shorter hospital stay. Pain prevention and control can produce short-term and long-term benefits, including a quicker recovery.
What is pain?
Physical pain is an uncomfortable feeling caused by physical injury, damage or disease. It's the body's way of sending a warning signal to the brain. The nerves and spinal cord provide a pathway for pain messages to move to and from the brain and over parts of the body.
Nerves carry pain signals up the spinal cord to the brain. Pain medicine blocks these pain signals or reduces their effect on the brain, making your child's body more comfortable.
Can pain be measured?
Pain can be rated on a scale of 0 to 10. Zero means the patient feels no pain at all. Ten measures the worst pain imaginable. Describing pain using a number scale helps doctors and nurses know how well your child's pain management program is working.
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How can pain be managed?
Methods to relieve pain can be divided into two categories: non-pharmacological (without medicine) and pharmacological (with medicine). Parents, along with doctors and nurses, will decide which method will work best for each child.
Non-pharmacologist pain management uses both psychological and physical methods:
- Having a parent or loved one available may be the best psychological treatment for pain. Children feel more secure when their parents are nearby.
- Receiving simple, accurate information about treatment for an illness or injury also helps manage pain. Giving a child some control or input during his treatment can help reduce pain.
- Heat and cold can relieve pain. Ice wrapped in a cloth sometimes helps ease pain and discomfort. Heat is useful for relieving muscle pain.
- Reducing stress can help lessen pain and give patients a sense of control. One method for reducing tension is deep breathing exercises.
- Providing distraction is another great way to ease pain. Useful forms of distraction include playing video games, watching movies and TV, reading books and listening to music.
- It's important for children to continue with normal activities they enjoy, but remember that a child who is playing may also be in pain.
- Physical touch is important in reducing pain. Touching includes stroking, swaddling, holding, rocking, caressing, cuddling and massaging.
Pharmacological pain management lessens pain with medicines in a variety of forms, including a tablet or liquid taken by mouth, an injection into the skin or muscle or through a small tube called an intravenous (IV) catheter, which is placed into a vein.
If a needle must be used and time allows, a cream called EMLA can be placed on the skin one to two hours before the needle puncture to make the injection more comfortable.
More serious pain may require a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. The pump is attached to an IV. Your physician will select the type and amount of medication to be given, and your child will be able to control how often he or she uses it.
For more information about pain management, please call 713-704-3029.
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