Study shows negative side effects of child-opiate treatments in hospitals

STANFORD, Calif. Children in hospitals for painful ailments such as cancer and broken bones often receive opiates to dull their pain, but the drugs can have serious side effects, according to a study.

“No parent wants their child in the hospital any longer than necessary,” said lead study author Dr. Paul Sharek, the medical director for quality management and the chief clinical patient safety officer at Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

The year-long study, a collaboration between doctors at 14 children’s hospitals across the United States, showed a 67 percent decrease in harm from pain-relief medications when changes to hospital procedures were made.

Most of the problems were minor, such as constipation and skin itching, but some problems can prolong hospital stays for children, and the study documented a few serious incidents, such as depressed breathing.

The hospital teams made changes to procedures, such as adding laxative drugs to the opiates to reduce constipation and reducing prescription overrides that allows nurses to administer the drugs before double-checking with pharmacists. In total, the team estimated that 14,594 harmful incidents were avoided during the study.