Intensive pain management for children – new guidelines ensure high-quality care
Hundreds of thousands of children suffer from chronic pain – a guideline developed with the participation of the University of Hamburg aims to prevent inadequate care and ensure effective treatment.
In Germany, seven per cent of 8 to 17-year-olds - around 500,000 children and adolescents - suffer from such severe persistent or recurring pain that they are severely restricted in their everyday lives and at school. If chronic pain is not treated or is treated incorrectly, it can persist into adulthood and have enormous negative consequences for those affected and for society.
Under the leadership of the German Pain Society, a guideline for inpatient, interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy (IMST) for children was developed for the first time together with twelve other scientific associations and patient organisations. It is intended to improve the quality of treatment and prevent children from receiving inadequate care.
What helps children with severe pain best
The most effective treatment method for severe chronic pain disorders in children is inpatient IMST. It aims to reduce pain and improve children's quality of life. "School attendance and sporting activities should be possible again and children should be able to enjoy learning and life," says Dr Julia Wager, Scientific Director of the Chair of Paediatric Pain Therapy and Paediatric Palliative Medicine at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) and Scientific Director at the German Paediatric Pain Centre at the Vestische Kinder- und Jugendklinik Datteln. The guideline was drawn up under her leadership. "The main aim of the treatment is to reduce the restrictions caused by the pain so that children and adolescents can actively participate in everyday life again," says Wager.
To this end, the guideline recommends that inpatient IMST should take place in a clinic for children and adolescents and with an interdisciplinary, paediatrically trained treatment team that can respond to the emotional and developmental needs of this group. "We see the guideline as a real milestone for intensive multimodal pain therapy, and not just in the area of children and adolescents," says Dr Julia Wager.
Further information:
The consensus-based S2k guideline "Inpatient Interdisciplinary Multimodal Pain Therapy (IMST) in Children and Adolescents" was developed under the leadership of the German Pain Society together with twelve other scientific associations and patient organisations. It is available with a long version, a short version and a method report on the website of the Association of Scientific Medical Societies, AWMF, at https://www.awmf.org/leitlinien/detail/145-006 published. A version for patients is to follow.