Planning for your Child's Comfort: During Recovery

Helping your child feel as comfortable as possible is one of our top priorities.

Comfort Plan

While your child is here for a procedure or surgery, we will follow a personalized Comfort Care Plan. The Comfort Plan lists things that make your child the most comfortable. Ask your nurse to fill out the Comfort Plan with you.

Assessing Pain

The team will assess (check on) your child’s pain in several ways:

• Children who can talk may be able to tell us where and how much it hurts.
• Your child’s heart rate and breathing can tell us about his/her level of pain.
• Your child’s behavior may change and alert us to pain or discomfort he/she may have.

Ask your nurse about which pain scale is being used to check on your child’s pain.

Treating Pain

In addition to medicine, the team may use other ways to make your child more comfortable:

• Physical or occupational therapy
• Child life specialists
• Complementary therapies like massage
• Consultation with the Pediatric Pain Service

Pediatric Pain Management Team

The pediatric pain specialists are providers who specialize in pain management for children.  Your child’s surgical team may ask the Pediatric Pain Management Team to help with the plan for managing your child’s pain after surgery. This team provides pain control and symptom management in a variety ways.

Questions to ask your healthcare team:

• Why might you limit the amount of pain medicine my child can have?
• How can you tell if my child has too little or too much pain medicine?
• How long will the pain last?
• What other ways can you help my child manage the pain besides medicine?