Pediatric Pain Management

MS Curie Hospital sees all kinds of patients aged 0 to 18 years, with various pathologies. More than 20,000 patients are treated in the hospital every year, patients from Bucharest and all around the country who get treatment and complex therapeutic or surgical procedures.

In this context, Dăruiește Viață is implementing a new multidisciplinary approach to pain and, together with specialized physicians, is introducing the concept of pediatric pain management.

Pain needs to be understood in the wider context of suffering and approached in an adequate manner, through well-defined therapies. Pain management is a medical branch that brings together doctors from different medical specialties (ICU, neurology, rheumatology, orthopedics, oncology, neurosurgery, radiology and recovery) with the entire purpose of treating pain as a symptom.

For this reason, in June, the hospital saw its first ”Pediatric Pain Management” class, aiming to decrease the amount of pain felt by the hospital's patients throughout their admission and not only then. The class was harmonized with the department procedures and the supply of products needed to manage pain. Right now, in the Oncology and Neurosurgery departments, new ideas, practices and tools relating to pain management are being implemented for situations where patients experience spontaneous organic pain or pain caused by various diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

This is only the first step, but one we plan on implementing throughout the entire hospital. This way, the institution can become a pediatric pain management leader for hospitals in Romania. The project is taking place with the help of the doctors and nurses working in the Oncology and Neurosurgery departments and with the support of a group of volunteer Romanian physicians living in the United States.

The trainers for this class have been:

• Dr. Eugen OLEINEAC – Project coordinator - ICU Specialist, Marie S. Curie Hospital, Bucharest
• Dr. Elena BRAȘOVEANU – Pediatric Anesthesiologist, Director of Anesthesiology Operations, Tufts Medical Center, Assistant Professor - Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
• Dr. Virgil MANICA – Anesthesiologist, Director of Obstetrical Anesthesiology, Tufts Medical Center, Assistant Professor - Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
• Dr. Gabriela Velcea - Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist, Consultant for a community agency and private practice
• Dr. Daniela Urma - Mass General Brigham Salem Hospital, Medicine Program Director, Internal Medicine Residency
• Dr. Nicu Iordache Iordache - consultant, trainer & author
• Florin Brașoveanu - IT Specialist