Promoting Paediatric Pain Management

Thank you all for your ongoing support to promote paediatric pain management. Whilst the world continues to be dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of pain management remains high on the agenda of many, as the care of children in pain continues to be challenging, with the need for education greater than ever. We continue to go through each of our elearning courses updating them. Following on from the publication of the revised WHO pain guidelines in February 2021 we have put out a call for experts from around the world to join us in developing and defining global best practice guidelines as well as developing a strategy for global research in pain in children’s palliative care. We are excited with the opportunity to do this work and it will all link into our ongoing work on promoting paediatric pain management. 

We have continued to be involved in a range of webinars, providing education and information on children’s palliative care and in particular pain management for individuals from around the world. We worked with the Palliative care Education and Research Consortium to deliver some virtual training in children’s palliative care for 42 health professionals from 7 districts of Uganda. This was a 5-day training carried out in 2 sessions and is being followed by clinical placements Covid permitting. Issues of pain assessment and management were covered in the first week of the training. We continue to hear stories about how individuals are utilising our Pain App in their day-to-day work, and are learning how to assess and manage pain in children. This is encouraging and great to know that the App is being used and is helpful. We have also submitted several funding applications for ongoing training in pain assessment and management for children’s palliative care.

So, despite the challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, it is exciting to look at the new and different opportunities ahead of us and we look forward to the ongoing work that ICPCN is involved in with regards to children’s pain assessment and management and to collaborating with many of you on this. 

Thank you all for your ongoing support to promote paediatric pain management. Whilst the world continues to be dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of pain management remains high on the agenda of many, as the care of children in pain continues to be challenging, with the need for education greater than ever. We continue to go through each of our elearning courses updating them. The revised WHO pain guidelines were launched in February 2021 and we are looking at our course on pain assessment and management for children in light of these. We will also be doing some further work on defining global best practice guidelines and looking at issues around research in pain in children’s palliative care. Both of which will feed into our existing work on pain in children’s palliative care. (You can see the ICPCNs statement re the Pain Guidleines here)

We have continued to be involved in a range of webinars, providing education and information on children’s palliative care and in particular pain management for individuals from around the world. Just this week we are supporting the second part of virtual training in children’s palliative care taking place in Uganda, with issues of pain assessment and management being covered in the first week of the training. Training virtually is a skill that we are all having to learn, and whilst it remains challenging, we are beginning to get used to it and wondering how hybrid programmes will work in the future. We have also taken part in the WHOs Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer with the team being involved in a variety of WHO led webinars across the world. Our series of ICPCN led webinars will be launched in the next couple of months, with a session in pain assessment and management high on the priority list. We do also continue to hear stories about how individuals are utilising our Pain App in their day-to-day work, and are learning how to assess and manage pain in children. This is encouraging and great to know that the App is being used and is helpful.

So, whilst we may not have been able to do what we had planned in relation to education and training, our App and clinical care. It has been exciting to look at the new and different opportunities ahead of us and we look forward to the ongoing work that ICPCN is involved in with regards to children’s pain assessment and management and look forward to collaborating with many of you on this. 

Thank you all for your ongoing support to promote paediatric pain management. Whilst the world continues to be dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue of pain management remains high on the agenda of many, as the care of children in pain continues to be challenging, with the need for education greater than ever. We have recently upgraded our elearning platform and are gradually going through each of the courses updating them. We are waiting for the revised WHO pain guidelines to be published early in 2021 as we update our training on pain assessment and management for children. 

Throughout this pandemic ICPCN has been involved in a range of webinars, providing education and information on children’s palliative care and in particular pain management for individuals from around the world. Taking advantage of the virtual world that we live in at the moment, we have been able to talk to members around the world, including those from Asia, Africa, North America, Oceania, Europe and South America. Fortunately, the virtual world has also given various options for translation, enabling us to participate in webinars not in English. So, whilst we may not have been travelling much physically, we have been virtually and it has been great to keep in touch with colleagues around the world. We are also planning a series of ICPCN led webinars during 2021, with a session in pain assessment and management high on the priority list. We do also continue to hear stories about how individuals – both professionals, families and children, are utilising our Pain App in their day-to-day work, and are learning how to assess and manage pain in children. This is encouraging and great to know that the App is being used and is helpful.

So, whilst this year has not been as we had expected, and we may not have been able to do what we had planned in relation to education and training, our App and clinical care. However, it has opened up new opportunities and at this challenging time we thank you for your ongoing support and we will do all we can to promote palliative care and pain management in children around the world.

Thank you all for your ongoing support to promote paediatric pain management. It is hard to believe that another report is due as the world continues to be dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic impacting all of us. Our elearning programmes are currently in demand as people are looking at how they can access ‘virtual’ education, and our course on pain assessment and management for children will soon be updated with the recently published revised definition of pain by the International Association of Pain.  We have also developed a course on COVID-19 which signposts people to our other courses, such as the one on pain assessment and management. 

We continue to hear stories about how individuals – both professionals, families and children, are utilising our Pain App in their day-to-day work. This is encouraging and great to know that the App is being used and is helpful.

Throughout this pandemic ICPCN has been involved in a series of webinars on Palliative Care and Covid-19, which we have worked alongside the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance and Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations and Emergencies Network. Alongside this we have developed Briefing Notes on many different aspects of palliative care and COVID-19, including those for children, in which we covered aspects of pain management. These Briefing Notes and the recordings of the webinars can be found on the ICPCN website, but also on the www.globalpalliativecare.org website where the complete series can be found. We would encourage you to take a look if you have not done so already.

At this challenging time we thank you for your ongoing support and we will do all we can to promote palliative care and pain management in children around the world.

Thank you all for your ongoing support to promote paediatric pain management. This is a short report as so much has happened in the world since our last report in December – not least of which Covid-19 which is impacting us all. We are all having to do things differently, to look at how we work, and for us working in palliative care we are looking at how we continue to care for those children with palliative care needs, and also ensure that palliative care is available to all who may need it due to Covid-19 and their families. Pain management is essential in this, and fortunately as globally people are looking and how they can provide distance education, we have our elearning programmes up and running, and we are encouraging all those working with children to undertake our elearning programmes and utilise our pain assessment App. 

It was encouraging to be in Turkey recently at a meeting to hear someone presenting as to how they are utilising our Pain App in their clinical care. Particularly encouraging as they did not know that ICPCN were in the audience! 

At this challenging time we thank you for your ongoing support and we will do all we can to promote palliative care and pain management in children around the world.