Leistungen Kika
Pain management at the ‘Kika’ pediatric cardiology clinic
Schmerzen sind doof - aber in der Kinderkardiologie wissen wir, wie Ihr Kind nicht unter Schmerzen leiden muss.
Avoiding unnecessary pain
"Pain is dumb" - that's what your child would say. Or, "I'm scared it'll hurt." An understandable emotion, because none of us is fond of pain. And this is the point where pain management steps in at our University Clinic for Pediatric Cardiology. We offer child-friendly treatment for the benefit of you and your child, which can not only take away the pain, but also the fear.
Children's trust in their doctor can be shattered by something as simple as their very first jab, for instance when a blood sample is taken. That is why our doctors and specialist nurses try to avoid pain even then. They use little aids such as sprays which desensitize the skin. Then the injection just doesn't hurt any more.
Pain management - what's it all about?
If your child is facing an intervention or major heart surgery, then pain management will be an integral part of the treatment plan. It starts with an analysis to determine the actual nature of the pain. To establish this, we question the child and his or her parents about the pain. We use a pain scale specially developed with children in mind - it is illustrated with faces expressing different degrees of pain. This means we can communicate directly even with young children who are not yet able to express all their emotions verbally.
We want to find out where the pain is coming from, how long the child has been suffering from it, and how bad it is. Depending on the severity of the pain, we can initiate therapy on a case-by-case basis to alleviate or even eliminate the pain.
Pain management: always age-appropriate
Grading pain, like all other aspects related to pain management, is always performed in a child-friendly and age-appropriate manner at the Heart Center Leipzig. This is ensured by our specialist doctors and experienced pediatric nurses, especially our 'pain nurses'. If necessary, suitable medication can be administered. If possible, however, we prefer to use other forms of pain relief such as cooling, which are specially designed for our younger patients.