Marginalized children’s acute pain experiences in the Stollery Children’s Hospital emergency department

Marginalized populations (people placed through intention and societal structure in a subjugated position through often intersectional identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, ability, sexual orientation, age, religion) in Canada often receive worse care in the emergency department (ED) setting than socioeconomically advantaged white individuals. Historically, children’s pain research has largely ignored the study of health equity and marginalized pain experiences. Newer research suggests that marginalized children’s pain experiences in the ED may be more negative, as they are less likely to have their pain managed through physical, psychological, or pharmacologic pain management strategies. By conducting a scoping review, surveys, and qualitative interviews, this research will seek to examine marginalized children’s pain experiences in the Stollery Children’s Hospital ED. The results of this research will be mobilized to improve provider training on how to adequately manage marginalized children’s acute pain.