What Is Solution for Kids in Pain (SKIP)?

Solution for Kids in Pain (SKIP) is a non-profit organization that aims to improve children’s pain management from birth to 19 years. When left untreated, pain can cause damage to a child’s body. Untreated pain can be traumatic for the child, their family, and the health care team.

SKIP implements four main activities to reduce pain in children: identifying and filling gaps, producing and promoting tools, facilitating institutional change, and raising awareness while creating urgency. Through these four activities, SKIP is able to decrease the hardships of those in pain and their families, reduce the avoidance of necessary healthcare, and diminish the financial strain. It also lowers the risk of developing addiction, mental health issues, and chronic pain in adulthood.

Identifying and filling gaps

There are knowledge and communication gaps among patients, caregivers, health professionals, administrators, and policymakers. SKIP has worked to identify these gaps through research and surveys, which have been presented at both national and international pain conferences. SKIP ensures that resources to bridge these gaps are made available to the stakeholders.

Producing and promoting tools

SKIP has created and is working to promote the use of many resources and tools for children in pain, including the world's first-ever National Standard for Pediatric Pain Management, released in 2023. Indigenous-led, culturally relevant resources regarding needle pain and anxiety have been developed for the use of parents and caregivers. Other tools, including videos, checklists, summaries, and template policies, have been made publicly available. Several events have also been made obtainable, such as webinars, conferences, and learning modules.

Facilitating institutional changes

SKIP partners with various organizations to help facilitate changes at an institutional level. One such organization is ChildKind, which partners with SKIP to help Canadian Health Institutions gain a ChildKind certification. This certification is a recognition of the best practices of pediatric pain management. SKIP is committed to instigating policy changes that will improve pediatric pain management.

Raising awareness and creating urgency

Through the use of numerous outlets, SKIP has brought awareness to important subjects, such as vaccine pain or fear and pediatric pain. They have used social media to spread evidence-based ideas to a larger group of people. Public talks, workshops and events have centered around SKIP’s focus of easing pediatric pain and ensuring that accurate knowledge is available. SKIP also engages with the media to help reach a more vast audience.