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Background Nearly 30% of children are affected by chronic pain which puts a significant burden on the child's family and society with estimated cost of over $19.5 billion each year. Children and adolescent's quality of life is often impacted leading to physical disability, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, school stress or decreased performance, insomnia, and fatigue. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) provide an overview of chronic pain in children and adolescents; 2) describe findings from a quality improvement project that assessed the prevalence of negative mood, quality of life, functional disability, and coping with pain in teens with chronic pain, and 3) discuss screening, assessment and evidence-based management of co-morbid chronic pain and mental health problems in children and teens. Findings Findings for a quality improvement project indicated that 16.8% of the adolescents scored high risk for depression, which was higher than the national average. Approximately 57% of adolescents were screened as high risk on the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory (PedsQL™). One in four adolescents showed poor functioning on the Functional Disability Inventory and nearly one-third of the adolescents reported poor coping with pain on the Pain Coping Questionnaire. This project indicates that adolescents with chronic pain are at high risk for mental health problems. The outcomes suggest the mental health needs of adolescents with chronic pain need to be identified and addressed to help improve outcomes. Discussion Children and youth with chronic pain need to be routinely screened and assessed for mental health problems, especially anxiety and depression. The use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or CBT-skills building for children and youth with anxiety and depressive disorders has been widely studied and are helpful for children with chronic pain include psychoeducation, which helps the child to learn age and developmental specific information on chronic pain. Evidence-based manualized and internet-based CBT programs should be scaled rapidly to decrease depression and anxiety in children and youth with chronic pain.

Background Racially disparate pain management affects both adult and pediatric patients, but is not well studied among pediatric surgical patients after discharge. The objectives were to evaluate racial disparities in pediatric postoperative opioid prescription filling. Methods This retrospective cohort study included black or white pediatric Medicaid patients who underwent tonsillectomy, supracondylar humeral fracture fixation, or appendectomy (2/2012–7/2016). Patients were followed for 14 days post-surgery to identify opioid prescription fills. Logistic regression models evaluated the association between race and the probability of filling an opioid prescription. Results Among 39,316 surgical patients, the proportions of patients with post-surgical opioid prescriptions were 66.0%, 83.9%, and 68.5%, among tonsillectomy, supracondylar fracture, and appendectomy patients, respectively. The proportion of black appendectomy patients with a postoperative opioid prescription was significantly lower compared to white patients (65.0% vs. 69.2% respectively, p = 0.03), but was no longer significant after adjusting for other patient and provider characteristics. There were no differences by race in opioid prescription filling among other surgical patient groups. Conclusions The present study did not identify racial disparities in opioid prescription filling in adjusted analyses. Racial differences in unadjusted postoperative opioid prescription filling among appendectomy patients may be explained in part by longer postoperative length-of-stay among black children. Type of Study Prognosis Study Level of Evidence Level II

Initial clinic evaluation among referred patients and factors limiting treatment initiation are not well characterized. We conducted a retrospective review of referrals to our outpatient pain clinic to identify intake visits and factors associated with treatment initiation among adolescents with chronic pain. We identified adolescents aged 13 to 18 years at the time of referral to clinic (2010-2016). Factors associated with completion of visits were evaluated using logistic regression. Patients who completed visits more frequently had private insurance than public or no insurance ( P = .053). The most common reasons for caregiver decision not to attend the pain clinic included use of another pain clinic, that services were not wanted or no longer needed, and that their child was undergoing further testing. The current study demonstrated that patients with head pain were more likely to complete an intake visit, while there was a trend showing that lack of private insurance decreased this likelihood.

Objective To assess the impact of Ohio’s 2012, 2013, and 2016 opioid prescribing guidelines on opioid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) prescription filling and health care utilization for pain among children with sickle cell disease (SCD). Design Quasi-experimental retrospective cohort study. Setting Ohio Medicaid claims data from August 2011 to August 2016. Subjects Medicaid beneficiaries under age 19 years with SCD. Methods Interrupted time series analyses comparing population-level rates of opioids and NSAID prescriptions filled, standardized amounts of opioids dispensed, and acute health care utilization for pain before and after release of each guideline. Results In our cohort of 1,505 children with SCD, there was a temporary but significant decrease in the opioid filling rate (–2.96 prescriptions per 100 children, P = 0.01) and in the amount of opioids dispensed (–31.39 milligram morphine equivalents per filled prescription, P Conclusions Our results suggest that Ohio’s 2013 and 2016 guidelines were associated with significant but nonsustained changes in opioid prescription filling among children with SCD. Additional studies are needed to confirm that opioid guidelines have a sustained impact on excessive opioid prescribing, filling, and misuse.

INTRODUCTION: Pediatric postoperative opioid prescribing has come under scrutiny as a result of the ongoing opioid epidemic. Previous research has demonstrated that African American adults are less likely to receive analgesics, particularly opioids, after surgery, even after controlling for pain severity. We sought to examine racial disparities in the filling of opioid prescriptions by pediatric surgical patients after cholecystectomy. METHODS: We studied patients aged 1 to 18 years of age who were enrolled in Ohio Medicaid and underwent cholecystectomy. Procedures performed in January 2013 - July 2016 were included. The percentage of patients who filled a postoperative opioid prescription within 14 days of their procedure was compared between black and white patients using log binomial regression models fit using generalized estimating equations to account for patient clustering within hospitals. RESULTS: We identified 1277 patients who underwent a cholecystectomy. In unadjusted analyses, black children were significantly less likely than white children to fill an opioid prescription postoperatively (74.9% vs 85.7%, p

Background Pain management is essential for the care of hospitalized children. Although multiple barriers have been identified that interfere with nurses' ability to provide optimal pain management, it is not known how pervasive are these barriers across the United States. Aims This study is the third in a series of studies examining barriers to pediatric pain management. The aim of this study was to examine barriers in different organizations using the same tool during the same period of time. Settings/Participants A sample of 808 nurses from three pediatric teaching hospitals responded to a survey addressing barriers to optimal pain management for children. Results Barriers unanimously identified as being most significant included inadequate or insufficient physician medication orders, insufficient time allowed to premedicate before procedures, insufficient premedication orders before procedures, and low priority given to pain management by medical staff. Conclusions Barriers identified as the most and least significant were similar regardless of hospital location. Revealing similar barriers across multiple pediatric hospitals provides direction for nurses trying to provide solutions to these pain management barriers.

Purpose Describe patient-, clinician-, system-, and community-level interventions for pain management developed and employed by 9 healthcare systems across the United States and report on lessons learned from the implementation of these interventions. Summary The high cost associated with pain coupled with the frequent use of opioid analgesics as primary treatment options has made novel pain management strategies a necessity. Interventions that target multiple levels within healthcare are needed to help combat the opioid epidemic and improve strategies to manage chronic pain. Patient-level interventions implemented ranged from traditional paper-based educational tools to videos, digital applications, and peer networks. Clinician-level interventions focused on providing education, ensuring proper follow-up care, and establishing multidisciplinary teams that included prescribers, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. System- and community-level interventions included metric tracking and analytics, electronic health record tools, lockbox distribution for safe storage, medication return bins for removal of opioids, risk assessment tool utilization, and improved access to reversal agents. Conclusion Strategies to better manage pain can be implemented within health systems at multiple levels and on many fronts; however, these changes are most effective when accepted and widely used by the population for which they are targeted.

Objective. Our objective was to examine the impact of the U.S. FDA’s 2013 black box warning against codeine on codeine and other opioid prescription filling after pediatric tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy (T/A) overall and by child race and provider urbanity/rurality. Methods. Patients ≤ 18 who underwent T/A in 8/2011 to 8/2016 were identified in Ohio Medicaid claims. Interrupted time series analyses were used to evaluate the impact of the FDA warning on codeine or other opioid prescription filling post-T/A. Results. In August 2011, codeine prescription filling was lower among black than white children ( P

The main objectives of this study were to retrospectively characterize the rate of referrals to an outpatient chronic pain clinic among adolescents with chronic pain, and to identify factors associated with referral.Adolescents, 13 to 18 years of age seen in 2010 to 2015 at outpatient clinics associated with Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) and diagnosed with chronic pain were included if they lived near NCH and had not been previously referred to the NCH outpatient chronic pain clinic. Subsequent referrals to the pain clinic were tracked through December 2017 using a quality improvement database. Factors predicting referral were assessed at the initial encounter in another outpatient clinic and analyzed using multivariable logistic regression.The analysis included 778 patients (569 female; median age, 15 y), of whom 96 (12%) were subsequently referred to the chronic pain clinic, after a median period of 3 months. Generalized chronic pain (adjusted odds ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.1; P=0.023) and regional pain syndromes (adjusted odds ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-6.7; P=0.003) were associated with increased likelihood of referral. The referral was also more likely among female patients and among patients with a mental health comorbidity or recent surgery or hospitalization.Referrals to our chronic pain clinic were more likely for adolescents with generalized chronic pain, regional pain syndromes, and patients with mental health comorbidities. Recent hospitalization or surgery, but not recent emergency department visits, were associated with pain clinic referral. The multivariable analysis did not find disparities in referral by race or socioeconomic status.

The population prevalence of pediatric chronic pain is not well characterized, in part because of a lack of nationally representative data. Previous research suggests that pediatric chronic pain prolongs inpatient stay and increases costs, but the population-level association between pediatric chronic pain and health care utilization is unclear. We use the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health to describe the prevalence of pediatric chronic pain, and compare health care utilization among children ages 0 to 17 years according to the presence of chronic pain. Using a sample of 43,712 children, we estimate the population prevalence of chronic pain to be 6%. In multivariable analysis, chronic pain was not associated with increased odds of primary care or mental health care use, but was associated with greater odds of using other specialty care (odds ratio [OR] = 2.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.62-2.47; P .001), complementary and alternative medicine (OR = 2.32, 95% CI = 1.79-3.03; P .001), and emergency care (OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.29-2.02; P .001). In this population-based survey, children with chronic pain were more likely to use specialty care but not mental health care. The higher likelihood of emergency care use in this group raises the question of whether better management of pediatric chronic pain could reduce emergency department use.Among children with chronic pain, we show high rates of use of emergency care but limited use of mental health care, which may suggest opportunities to increase multidisciplinary treatment of chronic pain.

INTRODUCTION Untreated pain or overly aggressive pain management may lead to adverse physiologic consequences and activation of the hospital's Rapid Response Team. This study is a quality improvement initiative that attempts to identify patient demographics and patterns associated with Rapid Response Team consultations for patients on the acute pain service. METHODS A retrospective review of all patients on the acute pain service from February 2011 until June 2015 was cross-referenced with inpatients requiring consultation from the Rapid Response Team. Two independent practitioners reviewed electronic medical records to determine which events were likely associated with pain management interventions. RESULTS Over a 4-year period, 4872 patients were admitted to the acute pain service of whom 135 unique patients required Rapid Response Team consults. There were 159 unique Rapid Response Team activations among 6538 unique acute pain service consults. A subset of 27 pain management-related Rapid Response Team consultations was identified. The largest percentage of patients on the acute pain service were adolescents aged 12-17 (36%). Compared to this age group, the odds of Rapid Response Team activation were higher among infants

This study examined the effects of oral sucrose as an analgesic agent during routine immunization for infants at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. A sample of 113 healthy infants were recruited from three ambulatory clinics and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Infants were given 2 mL orally of either 50% sucrose, 75% sucrose, or sterile water 2 minutes before administration of immunizations. No significant difference was found among the different age groups with the different treatments for pain as measured with the FLACC scores and crying time. Consolability factors are felt to have some influence.

Summary Background: In an effort to combat opioid induced side effects within the first 24 h of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) induction, it has been recommended that care be provided by an Acute Pain Treatment Service (APS) and that computerized PCA order sets with patient monitoring requirements be implemented. To date, there are few published studies on the role of computerized order sets or APS in improving the quality and safety of pediatric PCA use. This retrospective analysis sought to determine if the implementation of computerized order sets would increase appropriate monitoring and problem recognition. Methods: Analysis included 536 patients prescribed PCA in one of three ways: an anesthesia order set with APS support (n = 285), a general PCA order set (n = 95), or no order set (n = 156). We analyzed the use of order sets by unit; the incidence of appropriate monitoring (≥12 recordings within 24 h) of respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and sedation level and the recognition of low respiration rate and low oxygen saturation between the types of PCA order. Results: We found a significant difference in type of PCA order used by unit. Appropriate documentation of respiratory rate and oxygen saturation occurred significantly more often if the order set with APS was used. Low respiration rate was also recognized significantly more frequently (P ≤ 05) in the APS order set group. Conclusions: These findings show that use of a computerized PCA order set with monitoring requirements and an APS can increase monitoring and documentation of important vital signs and increase identification of potential negative events.

Hina Walia,1 Dmitry Tumin,1 Sharon Wrona,1 David Martin,1,2 Tarun Bhalla,1,2 Joseph D Tobias,1-3 1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, 3Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA Background: The management of acute pain presents unique challenges in the younger pediatric population. Although patient-controlled devices are frequently used in patients ≥6 years of age, alternative modes of analgesic delivery are needed in infants.Objective: To examine the safety and efficacy of nurse-controlled analgesia (NCA) in neonates less than 1 year of age.Methods: Data from patients

The American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) has developed a position statement and clinical practice recommendations related to procedural preparation and comfort management. Procedures potentially produce pain and anxiety, both of which should be assessed and addressed before the procedure begins. This position statement refers to "comfort management" as incorporating the management of pain, anxiety, and any other discomforts that may occur with procedures. It is the position of ASPMN that nurses and other health care professionals advocate and intervene based on the needs of the patient, setting, and situation, to provide optimal comfort management before, during, and after procedures. Furthermore, ASPMN does not condone procedures being performed without the implementation of planned comfort assessment and management. In addition to outlining this position with supporting evidence, this paper reviews the ethical considerations regarding procedural comfort management and provides recommendations for nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic management during all phases of the procedure. An appendix provides a summary of this position statement and clinical practice recommendations.

In an effort to combat opioid induced side effects within the first 24 h of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) induction, it has been recommended that care be provided by an Acute Pain Treatment Service (APS) and that computerized PCA order sets with patient monitoring requirements be implemented. To date, there are few published studies on the role of computerized order sets or APS in improving the quality and safety of pediatric PCA use. This retrospective analysis sought to determine if the implementation of computerized order sets would increase appropriate monitoring and problem recognition.Analysis included 536 patients prescribed PCA in one of three ways: an anesthesia order set with APS support (n = 285), a general PCA order set (n = 95), or no order set (n = 156). We analyzed the use of order sets by unit; the incidence of appropriate monitoring (or =12 recordings within 24 h) of respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and sedation level and the recognition of low respiration rate and low oxygen saturation between the types of PCA order.We found a significant difference in type of PCA order used by unit. Appropriate documentation of respiratory rate and oxygen saturation occurred significantly more often if the order set with APS was used. Low respiration rate was also recognized significantly more frequently (Por = 05) in the APS order set group.These findings show that use of a computerized PCA order set with monitoring requirements and an APS can increase monitoring and documentation of important vital signs and increase identification of potential negative events.

Background There are studies and literature that support the claim that ketorolac use after spinal fusion in the adult population can increase the risk of pseudarthrosis, instrumentation failure, and/or nonunion. There is limited research when using ketorolac in the pediatric population, especially short-term use. Methods Chart review of 46 pediatric patients who had prior spinal fusions for scoliosis between July 2003 and August 2005. Twenty-five of the patients received ketorolac and 21 did not. The lengths of stay, incidence of curve progression, and/or incidence of nonunion or instrumentation failure were compared in the 2 groups. Results At the 1-year follow-up, 95% of the patients returned and at the 3-year follow-up, 52% of the patients returned and there was no clinical or radiographic evidence of curve progression, nonunion, or instrumentation failure. Level of evidence This is a retrospective study looking at results of 2 patient groups. This is a level III study.