Information ranges from a tabular summary of the advantages and disadvantages of different routes for administering analgesics to children, through a list of drugs which should not be used in newborns and infants, to the simple observation that older children may deny their pain for fear of more painful treatment.
Against this background, the book presents concise clinical advice. Part one discusses the components of palliative care, stressing the need to provide pain relief within the context of a holistic approach that recognizes children’s psychological, social, and spiritual problems.
Part two is a detailed guide to therapeutic strategies, focusing on correct prescribing of analgesic drugs. A description of the principles of pain assessment in children is followed by practical advice on the use of simple behavioral, cognitive, and supportive pain-relieving measures, many of which can be provided by parents or siblings. The book includes precise guidelines for analgesic drug therapy, specific drugs and recommended doses for pain relief in different situations, and appropriate ways of treating the predictable side-effects of opioids.
Other sections explain the use of adjuvant therapy to elevate mood, reduce anxiety levels, or minimize the adverse side-effects of the primary analgesic drugs, and discuss the management of pain caused by diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. It offers advice on the spiritual needs of children and families, and on ethical issues, including euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
Compassionate and authoritative, the book should prove useful to all health workers engaged in the care of children with cancer. The book is a companion to WHO’s classic guide, Cancer Pain.
(Reprinted with permission from the World Health Organization. To order, call the US publications center at 518.436.9686. Order no. 1150459; the book is $16.20.)