Society for Pediatric Pain Medicine
Better Care for Children in Pain

Dear Colleagues,

A draft Pediatric Pain Management Standard has been developed by the Health Standards Organization (HSO) and Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP) in consultation with: patients and family members, clinicians and health service administrators, government and health services stakeholders, and researchers.

Once approved, the Standard will apply across the continuum of care to all Canadian health and social services organizations who provide pain management to pediatric populations (birth to 19 years). HSO standards are the foundation on which accreditation programs and public policy are built, so this accreditation standard can be a game changer for pain management for children in Canada.

We welcome international feedback. 

The standard is currently open for public review until February 4, 2022 (closes @ 11:59pm EST). We would value greatly the input of leaders in pediatric pain, as well as health care organizations across Canada and around the world.

I understand bandwidth is extremely limited at this time. Participation is of course voluntary, but would be much appreciated.

• English: https://healthstandards.org/public-reviews/pediatric-pain-management/
• French: https://healthstandards.org/fr/examens-publics/prise-en-charge-de-la-douleur-chez-les-enfants/
• You may choose to submit feedback via the linked surveys or email to: [email protected]
• All feedback is due February 4, 2022

While the health standard is set to ensure a national standard of care for pediatric pain management in Canada, we have international membership on our working group and hope it will pave the way for improvements in implementation of evidence-based solutions for children’s pain management around the world working synergistically alongside ChildKind International certification.

Please forward on to anyone you think may be interested and/or willing to provide feedback!

Katie Birnie, PhD RPsych (she/her)
Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, and Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
Associate Scientific Director, Solutions for Kids in Pain (SKIP)
[email protected]
www.partneringforpain.com

Management of acute pain following the NUSS procedure continues to be investigated in order to achieve optimal analgesia and short length of stay in hospital. With novel regional anesthetic techniques, exciting new modalities are being explored. A new study examined ESP block versus thoracic epidural for this indication. 

CLICK HERE to read more.

Rosalie Tassone, MD MPH, a member of the SPPM Executive Board has recently published an article in International Anesthesiology Clinics. Of interest to our membership, would be the section on management of acute pain utilizing opioids, in the context of establishing practices in a hospital in the MIddle East, including a bias to undertreat pain.

CLICK HERE to read more.

Dear Pain Research Community, There is an urgent need for more research to establish best practices in the pain management field, however, there is a limited workforce pipeline of pain researchers to meet NIH’s long-term goals of providing effective non-opioid options for the treatment of pain conditions and better pain management overall. We are  excited to announce the HEAL Initiative: National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Program and HEAL Initiative: Coordinating Center for National Pain Scientists Career Development funding opportunities to promote career development of pain scientists. If you are interested in learning more about these funding opportunities, please join our webinars (full details in the notice) on February 14th from 12:00 to 1:00pm ET (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-22-045.html) and February 15th from 12:00 to 1:00pm ET (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-22-046.html). Please refer to the RFA IC contacts for specific questions. HEAL Initiative: National K12 Clinical Pain Career Development Program https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-22-045.html HEAL Initiative: Coordinating Center for National Pain Scientists Career Development https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-22-046.html Andrew Siddons, MPH [C] Scientific technical writer N4 Solutions, LLC Office of Pain Policy and Planning National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

 

Long-term chronic postsurgical pain is common in pediatric patients, occurs across a wide range of surgeries and has a marked impact on children’s quality of life, a new survey study by SPPM member T. Anthony Anderson, MD, PhD has concluded. Dr. Anderson will be presenting a lecture at our upcoming annual meeting in Tampa, Florida. CLICK HERE to a profile on this study in Anesthesiology News.