Pain assessment and treatment in hospitalized infants, children, and young people

Abstract

Pain in hospitalized infants, children, and young people (ICYP) is a well-known phenomenon but remains undertreated. This study aimed to examine documented pain management practices provided for ICYP and compare practices adopted in neonatal and pediatric units. This national retrospective multi-center study was conducted in 40 of the 42 Danish neonatal and pediatric units in November 2020. Data were collected from the medical records of ICYP admitted to a participating unit. We performed a total of 846 medical record audits of which pain was assessed in 51.9% of the ICYP. Pain assessment was documented for more infants (57.8%) than for children and young people (CYP) (47.4%) ( p = 0.003). CYP more often received pain treatment (37.7%) than infants (6.9%, p < 0.0001) and more frequently had a pain treatment plan (50.8% versus 10.2%, p < 0.0001). Use of non-pharmacological treatment was documented for 6.3% of the ICYP. Our findings indicate that pain assessment is insufficiently documented in Danish neonatal and pediatric units. Among cases in which pain scores indicated that the patient had experienced pain, pain treatment was documented in a larger proportion of the pediatric population than in the neonatal population.