OBJECTIVE Collaborative quality improvement techniques were used to facilitate local quality improvement in the management of pain in infants. Several case studies are presented to highlight this process. METHODS Twelve NICUs in the Neonatal Intensive Care Quality Improvement Collaborative 2002 focused on improving neonatal pain management and sedation practices. These centers developed and i...

Pain is commonplace in newborn infants. Opioid analgesics have become increasingly used to reduce different types of pain in neonates, including pain from surgery, medical procedures and chronic conditions. Adverse effects of opioids include respiratory depression, hypotension and tolerance. These adverse effects can be minimised by utilising specific administration techniques and constant moni...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine the level of agreement between behavioral and multidimensional pain assessment scales in term newborn infants submitted to an acute nociceptive stimulus. METHODS This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 healthy term newborns who received an intramuscular injection of vitamin K during the first 6 hours of life. Two behavioral pain scales (the Ne...

The mechanisms controlling pain in newborns during delivery are poorly understood. We explored the hypothesis that oxytocin, an essential hormone for labor and a powerful neuromodulator, exerts analgesic actions on newborns during delivery. Using a thermal tail-flick assay, we report that pain sensitivity is two-fold lower in rat pups immediately after birth than 2 days later. Oxytocin receptor...

OBJECTIVE To determine the pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods used by neonatal intensive care unit nurses to reduce procedural pain. METHODS The cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2011 to June 2012 and comprised nurses employed in the paediatric departments, consisting of neonatal intensive care units and newborn units, of 15 hospitals in various cities of Turkey:...

OBJECTIVES To describe developmentally appropriate, specific body movements and other biobehavioral responses of preterm infants to a group of routine care giving tasks (Clustered Care), and to compare responses to acute pain with those of Clustered Care. METHODS In a randomized design, 54 preterm infants were assessed at 32 weeks gestational age during 3 phases of blood collection (Baseline,...

Background: Parents play a key role in the assessment and management of pain. There is not much knowledge about parental viewpoint or their participation in the pain management of the neonates admitted to the intensive care units. The present study was conducted with the aim of assessing the viewpoints of mothers about pain management of the neonates/ infants   admitted to Tabriz hospitals. Me...

Background: Several modalities have been proposed to reduce procedural pain in neonates. This study was conducted to determine whether heat of a non-human source might help with pain management in infants.Methods: In this clinical trial, 40 full-term healthy neonates in their first hours of life were randomly divided into two groups of intervention and control. The control group was put under a...

Accurate and reliable pain management in newborn infants has been a challenging task that has been investigated extensively in the neonatal infant population. Today, several scales and measures are available to evaluate pain; however, instruments and techniques that are absolutely valid, reliable and clinically feasible are not yet in place. There is lack of research in the area of physiologica...