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Pain & sedation
What helps kids in pain in ambulances
What works well for children and young people suffering acute pain attended by ambulance? A realist evaluation
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine · 2026-11-03 · Added 4 November 2026
A UK realist evaluation across three English ambulance services and two children's EDs — 44 interview transcripts plus 34,068 clinical records — refined the programme theory for paediatric pain care, with clinician preparedness and compassionate person-centred care emerging as the key mechanisms.
- Study type
- Qualitative
- Design
- Realist evaluation (qualitative interviews, diaries, artwork + routine clinical records)
- Participants
- 44 participants (21 ambulance clinicians, 14 parents/carers, 9 children/young people); 34,068 clinical records
- Main finding
- Around 60% of children and young people needing an ambulance for a painful condition experience poor pain management; preparedness (education, training, exposure, experience) and compassionate person-centred care were the refined programme theory's central mechanisms
- Caveat
- Realist evaluation generating theory, not effectiveness evidence, and participants were self-selected
- Bottom line
- Hypothesis-generating
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Paediatric pain is core ambulance work across Australia and the mechanisms described — preparedness, privacy, reassurance, allaying negative assumptions — are actionable in any service, whatever the drug chart looks like.
Learning goal
Improve my paediatric pain assessment and management by strengthening clinician preparedness and delivering compassionate, person-centred care.
More
- Topic: Pain & sedation
- Daily scan: 4 November 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 4 November 2026
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