Resumen

DRUYET CASTILLO, Dalilis; GUTIERREZ NOYOLA, Anarelis  y  RUIZ SUAREZ, Lázaro Oscar. Sedación y analgesia en urgencias pediátricas. Rev Cubana Med Gen Integr [online]. 2003, vol.19, n.2. ISSN 0864-2125.

Pain is the most frequent symptom of a disease. Roughly half of patients goes to the doctor basically because they suffer pain that generates a feeling of anguish both in the patient and the relatives. In emergency services, specially in pediatrics, the way of behaving in the face of pain has revolutionized in the course of the last 10 to 15 years. Practice and mentality have changed and at present, child´s pain is taken into account and regularly treated in the right way. Despite this, there are still a number of myths in relation to collateral responses. Some people assure that younger infants have an immature nervous system and they do no feel pain in the same way as others; they consider that pain can not be measured by its subjective characteristics, and there are also people who think that children are at risk of becoming opioid addicts when prescribed. All these assertions are incorrect and complicated the management of the child suffering pain. This article describes the pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods of pain treatment and presents the behavioral strategies to face some of its specific aspects.

Palabras clave : PAIN [drug therapy]; HYPNOSIS; HYPNOTICS AND SEDATIVES [therapeutic use]; ANALGESICS [therapeutic use]; EMERGENCIES; CHILD.