Did you know the “mother” of pediatric pain management was a University of Iowa nurse? 💛
Joanne “Jo” Eland, BSN, MA, PhD, transformed how healthcare professionals recognize and treat pain in children, leaving a lasting impact on pediatric care worldwide.
While supervising students on the pediatric oncology unit, she noticed that pain in children was treated less aggressively than in adults. Her master's thesis, Children's Communication of Pain, was the first published study to document the disparity, challenging long-standing myths about children's pain and initiating future research and advocacy to prevent the physical and psychological consequences of untreated pain.
ALT An older woman with short, curly grey hair, glasses, and a black zip-up hoodie holds a small, spotted wild cat cub, possibly a lynx or cougar cub, in her arms. She smiles gently at the camera against a soft-focus background of green leafy foliage.