Oral Morphine Versus Injected Meperidine (Demerol) for Pain Relief in Children After Orthopedic Surgery

Abstract

This study provides a comparison of two clinical regimens for controlling pain in children for the first 48 h alter orthopedic surgery: oral morphine, every 4 h, and injected meperidine (Demerol), every 3–4 h pro re nata. Using a Visual Analogue Scale, 25 children between the ages of 7 and 17 years of age, who were randomly divided into two groups, rated the severity of their pain every 1–3 h from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each child's parents and attending nurse also rated the child's pain. The morphine group had a significantly higher number of pain-free children on both day 1 and day 2.