Post‐operative pain in children: a review of the literature

Summary Post‐operative pain has been increasingly reported over the last 40 years. Literature reporting pain in children is increasing. Although methods of assessing pain in children have been developed over the last 15 years, difficulties still exist. The long‐standing problems of managing pain persist because practice is often based on misconceptions rather than research. This failure to base practice on research is caused, in part, by the fact that neither medical nor nurse training recognizes pain as a specific subject area in its own right. Until training changes and practice improves, post‐operative pain in children is likely to remain poorly recognized and undertreated.