Helen W. Karl

Pediatric pain management and anxiety.

For a child in the hospital, whether it is for as short a time as a brief outpatient procedure or the many weeks required for treatment of a complex condition, there can be many painful experiences and situations in which the child is afraid of pain to come. Pain is multidimensional: an emotional as well as a sensory experience. Recent advances in prevention and treatment of pain in children have had an enormous impact on the sensory portion of children'sexperience. However, much less attention has been paid during medical education to the social interactions and emotional component, particularly to the ways that what is said by health care providers can help to prevent and ease distress.

A Child in the Hospital: How to Help, What to Say begins from the premise that all who choose to work with children want to say and do things that affirm the dignity and humanity of their patients; but sometimes they lack information as to how best to achieve it. Stories from children, parents and health care professionals will supply specific dialogue and vignettes. Scientific data will provide additional rationale. Our goal is that health care professionals in training and in practice will use the book to better communicate with children. We hope that they will use they will use the book to better communicate with children, create a supportive and therapeutic environment, and prevent or decrease children's distress during a variety of difficult medical situations. Parents, particularly parents of children with chronic diseases, should have no difficulty understanding the book and may find it a useful adjunct to their other
efforts to advocate for their child.