Pain Medicine Care Complex Referral Guidelines

Children’s National Pediatric Pain Medicine Program is an interdisciplinary, research-based pain program for children’s acute and long-term pain—one of only a few such programs in the United States and around the world.

Children have access to experts in pain from every discipline, including psychologists, physical therapists, alternative therapies and traditional medical treatments; all on an outpatient basis.

Most children seen in the Pediatric Pain Medicine Clinic are referred for pain that has lasted longer than four to six weeks and severely impacts the child's quality of life, or for children for whom all standard treatments for pain have failed. Pain is more than a physical injury. Pain has social, emotional and psychological impacts as well, and not just on the child experiencing the pain, but also on the family and friends around that child.

Our personalized approach is tailored to each child's unique needs and is based on the latest, research-proven approaches to pain medicine. This includes standard therapies and some research-proven alternatives, including multi-sensory techniques that maximize the power of all five senses, focusing a child's attention on the senses less impacted by that pain (sight, sound, taste or smell) to distract and deflect.