ABSTRACT
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as ‘‘an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience connected with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage.’’ Operationally, pain can be defined as ‘‘what the patient says hurts’’ and exists ‘‘when the patient says it does.’’ Infants, preverbal children, developmentally handicapped, and critically ill children may be unable to describe their pain or their subjective experiences. This has led many to conclude incorrectly that children do not experience pain in the same way as adults do.
