Inhaled nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, should be used more widely to manage children's pain and distress when they undergo emergency treatment in hospitals, says a University of Alberta expert.
The research review, led by Naveen Poonai and published in the, is one of four studies Ali and her colleagues are conducting to gather evidence to guide safe nitrous oxide use for children in Canada. Six out of 10 children arrive in pediatric emergency departments with painful conditions, Ali says, and pain management remains a huge challenge in many settings.
"By using nitrous oxide, which doesn't involve a needle and doesn't involve having to swallow a medication—both of which can be tremendously challenging for children—we're able to manage their pain in a way that's less invasive and contributes to less stress for them," says Ali, who is also a member of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute and a co-author of Canada's first national pediatric pain management standard, released this year.
Treating a child's pain with nitrous oxide during some painful procedures is a win-win for patients, health-care providers and hospital administrators, says Ali. It is effective, safe, inexpensive, can be readily available and is easy to administer through an on-demand mouthpiece or continuous-flow mask for the youngest patients.
That study, which will be published this fall, also shows that nitrous oxide was being used in only 6 of 15 Canadian pediatric emergency hospitals in 2021—including the two in Alberta.
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