The safety of prescribing opioids in pediatrics.
BACKGROUND
Pain management has become a widely discussed topic throughout all medical subspecialties. Although pediatric pain management has evolved significantly in its recent history, there is continued interest in the adequacy of pain treatment, both in the acute inpatient setting as well as the postoperative and chronic pain management setting. Although health care providers are becoming more aggressive concerning prompt and effective treatment of acute and chronic pain, safety data and adverse effects of narcotic analgesics may be overlooked.


METHODS
The authors review the current paradigm of acute pain management with an emphasis on oral narcotic medications, and the safety data available concerning prescribing these medications.


CONCLUSIONS
Further, the authors present their opinions concerning current and future practices regarding the prescribing practice of opiate analgesics, as well as a step-wise approach for acute oral pain management.
Ohio State University, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine , 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205 , USA +1 614 722 4200 ; +1 614 722 4203 ; David.Martin@Nationwidechildrens.org.
David P
DP
Martin
Tarun
T
Bhalla
Ralph
R
Beltran
Giorgio
G
Veneziano
Joseph D
JD
Tobias
D059787:Acute Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'
D000701:Analgesics, Opioid