Assessment and intervention of neonatal pain in neonatal intensive care unit / 中国新生儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the pain controlling effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting. Methods Infants who received radial artery puncture were assigned into control group, non-nutritive sucking (NNS) group and NNS plus glucose (NNS + GS) group according to their admission sequences. Each group contained 20 patients. Heart rate ( HR), respiratory rate (RR) and oxygen saturation (SpO2 ) before and after the procedure were monitored using Multi-Parameter Monitor ECG. Neonatal pain was evaluated using the preterm infant pain profile (PIPP). Results Among all three groups, after radial artery puncture, HR and RR were significantly increased, and SpO2 was significantly decreased (P < 0. 01). HR, RR and SpO2 variations in NNS group and NNS + GS group were less significant than the control group (P < 0. 05), and recovered to baseline more quickly. During the radial artery puncture, PIPP scores of infants in NNS and NNS + GS group were significantly lower than the control group (P < 0. 01), with NNS + GS group lower than NNS group (P <0. 05). Conclusions HR, RR and SpO2 can be used as physiological indicators of neonatal pain. PIPP score is simple and practical to be used in NICU setting. Both NNS and NNS + GS can partially relieve neonatal pain, and NNS + GS works better.