Acute Pain Service

The APS team is committed to work with families to optimize the care of pain, post-operatively, and assist with patients who are coping with pain related medical conditions such as sickle cell disease, cancer pain and injury from major burns.

About

The Acute Pain Service (APS) is a consultative service that is accessed by a patient's sub-specialty care team to support and promote best practice in managing discomfort when infants, children and youth are in hospital.

Defining Acute Pain

Acute Pain is pain experienced as a result of trauma, surgery, procedures and/or medical condition changes, which provides a mechanism to protect the injured tissue from ongoing damage.

Who We Serve

Admitted patients are referred to the service through pediatric sub-specialty physicians when an infant, child or youth in hospital are requiring a pain specialist team to augment their care.

Services provide planned pain control after major surgery and trauma that require specialized interventions (patient controlled analgesia or epidural analgesia) as well as specialized pain care for pain related specific medical conditions and support for strategies for weaning pain medications and sedation.

Our Team

‎The Acute Pain Services uses a multi-disciplinary approach with:

Nurse Practitioner
Department of Anesthesiology, anesthesiologists providing 24/7 coverage
Access to consultation with pharmacy, child life specialists, psychology, physiotherapy and psychiatry

Services

The APS provides:

Care management and consultation to patients admitted to BC Children's Hospital.
Consultations with pre-anesthesia planning, working with the pre-anesthesia clinic.
Specific out-patient follow up for regional interventions.
Medication weaning to optimize pain management opioid sparing techniques.

The APS provides patient and family centered approach to care and a commitment to comfort. The APS team also plays an important role in educating and consulting with nurses and physicians to ensure children and youth are as comfortable as possible. APS initiatives include Comfort Checklist and Comfort Champions.

The APS works in partnership with the Complex Pain Service, for more information about their services click here.

Complex Pain Service

Contact

If your child or youth has had a surgery of procedure and is experiencing unmanageable pain, contact APS.

To contact APS, contact your healthcare team and they can consult the Acute Pain Service.

If your child or youth is coming in for a procedure or surgery and is currently manage pain please request a consultation with APS from your primary sub-specialty team.

For example: If your child is scheduled for an orthopaedic procedure, contact the orthopaedic clinic and ask for a consultation with APS.

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