Pain Response to Procedural Pain in Premature Infants

Abstract

Purpose: To explore premature infants' pain response to routine procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: The participants were 56 preterm infants who showed 149 pain responses to 8 high frequency routine procedures which were evaluated using the Premature Infant Pain Scale (PIPS). Videotaped recording was used for data collection. Data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, paired t-test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: PIPS scores for each procedure were as follows; for removal of central catheter dressing, 6.17 (2.04), venous sampling, 6.12 (2.87), intramuscular injection, 6.05 (2.38), insertion of a peripheral line, 5.38 (2.16), insertion of feeding tube, 4.40 (1.34), heel stick, 4.33 (1.23), insertion of central line, 4.00 (2.12), and endotracheal suctioning, 2.90 (1.25). PIPS score was negatively correlated with gestational age (r=-.218, p=.007) and birth weight (r=-.249, p=.002) among general characteristics of the infants. Conclusion: The majority of 8 routine procedures were found to be painful for premature infants in the NICU. Therefore, adequate pain management related to procedures should be provided to premature infant in the NICU.

Effect of White Noise on Pain Response, Heart Rate, and Oxygen Saturation During Heel Puncture in Premature Infants

“…The total possible scores are 0 to 9 for corrected age 36 weeks or older and 1 to 12 for corrected age younger than 36 weeks. The Cronbach α values were 0.97 in a previous study 30 assessing the pain responses of preterm infants in the NICU and 0.98 in this study.…”

Impact evaluation of nurse staffing policy reform in Korea: A quasi‐experimental study

“…In the initial 10 years of the NFDP, the likelihood of improving nurse staffing grades was higher in hospitals in Seoul (OR 2.66) or metropolitan areas (OR 2.34) with more than 250 beds (OR 3.87 and 12.7 for 250–499 beds, 500+ beds, respectively) (Cho et al, 2008 ). Even after the introduction of discounted fees in 2007, the likelihood of increasing one grade of nurse staffing level was 80 times higher in tertiary hospitals than hospitals, and 1.07–1.50 times higher in metropolitan hospitals than in other regions (Kim et al, 2010 ). On the other hand, this study established that the odds of improving the nurse staffing grades were higher in non‐metropolitan hospitals and hospitals, confirming that the mixture of various incentive‐based nursing policies were effective in small and medium‐sized hospitals in non‐metropolitan areas.…”

“…Moreover, hospitals that have experienced forced cut‐offs were more likely to enhance nursing grades than non‐reduced hospitals. However, the policy effect was still insignificant in small/medium‐sized hospitals (Kim et al, 2010 ). With these results, it was argued that incentives should be increased to encourage small/medium‐sized hospitals to reinvest their surpluses for additional employment.…”