Leveraging Lived Experience to Support System-wide Reform in Pediatric Pain

The 2021 Lancet Commission on Paediatric Pain identified partnership with people with lived experience (youth, caregivers) as critical to achieving transformative change in the field. Examples will showcase how people with lived experience with pediatric pain have partnered with researchers, healthcare professionals, and decision-makers to co-develop new health service models to prevent pediatric chronic postsurgical pain, equitable and inclusive best practices guidelines for virtual care, and the first national health standard for pediatric pain. Key Insight: People with lived experience possess unique expertise that can and should be integrated to co-design needed solutions for pediatric pain management. Their partnership, along with the engagement of multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, and decision-makers, is critical to achieve effective and equitable pediatric pain interventions, health service models, and national standards of care.