• G Marchetti, A Vittori, V Tortora, M Bishop, G Lofino, V Pardi, E A De Marco, G Manca, A Inserra, R Caruso, I Ciaralli, F Locatelli, S Bella, A E Tozzi, and S Picardo.
• Paediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome; Department of Emergency, Anesthesiology and Intensive Care.
• Clin Ter. 2016 Sep 1; 167 (5): 156-160.

BackgroundAmong hospitalized adults and children pain is undertreated. This study wants to assess the effectiveness of pain therapy in two departments of a large children's hospital.Materials And MethodsDuring a single day work three committees, administering a questionnaire to patients or parents, have evaluated the adherence to international recommendations (JCI and WHO) in the management of analgesic therapy. Patient demographics, prevalence and intensity (moderate and/or severe) of pain (during hospitalization, 24 hours before and at the time of the interview), analgesia (type, route, duration and frequency of administration) and Pain Management Index (=analgesic score-pain score) were recorded.Results75 patients participated in the study (age: 2 months up to 24 years, mean 7.8 ± 6). During hospitalization 43 children (57%) had no pain while 32 (43%) have experienced pain. 22 children (29 %) had pain 24 hours before and 12 (16%) at the time of the interview. The average value of the PMI was -0.8±1.3 with a minimum of -3 and a maximum of +2: 60% (19) of the children had a PMI less than 0 (undertreated pain) while 40% (13) had a value=or>0. Out of 32 patients who needed an analgesic therapy 14 (44%) received an around-the-clock dosing, 8 (25%) an intermittent therapy and 10 (31%) no treatment.17 (77 %) were the single drug therapy and 5 (23%) the multimodal ones.ConclusionsThe prevalence of pain in the two departments is high. The main cause is that knowledge is not still well translated into clinical practice.

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