Acute pain management in infants and children-Part 1: Pain pathways, pain assessment, and outpatient pain management.

The field of pediatric pain management continues to evolve, with ongoing changes in our appreciation of the impact of pain on our fragile patients, a better understanding of how to assess pain, and refinements of the medications and techniques used to provide analgesia to patients with acute pain of various etiologies. The following article reviews the techniques for the assessment of pain, including various age-specific pain scoring systems. The pharmacological management of pain is discussed, including the use of agents that inhibit prostaglandin formation-nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents and acetaminophen-as well as the "weak opioids" that are commonly used when oral administration is feasible for the treatment of mild to moderate pain.