Acute pain relief in children: review of pain rating scales and analgesia.

Evidence suggests that children who are in pain and who present to emergency departments receive sub-optimal pain assessment and relief. Many factors contribute to this unacceptable quality of care, including emergency nurses’ lack of knowledge about the appropriate pain assessment tools. This article refers to a literature review and case study to discuss children’s pain assessment tools. It concludes that an education programme for emergency nurses could be provided to augment their awareness of best practice pain assessment and management guidelines.