ASSESSMENT OF NEWBORN PAIN RELATED TO CARE

Abstract

Pain in newborns is an issue we cannot ignore any longer. The health care providers should confirm that the baby is comfortable during any procedures as it is not only that it is ethically right for them to treat in pain the patients but can also have serious after-effects in newborns and can also lead to other diseases. This study aimed to evaluate pain induced by medical procedures, describe pain management practices, and improve pain management. Two surveys were conducted: the first one on the patients through the prospective descriptive observational study. This was carried out in the NICU in the department of neonatology in the CHU MOHAMED VI of Oujda over a period of 4 months, starting from February 26, 2024 until June 26, 2024. Pain was assessed by using the DAN scale in 98 newborns (female: 56%, sex ratio: 1.27, premature: 42%, and mean weight: 2538g). The median DAN score duringmedical procedures was 4.5, which dropped to 1 three minutes after the painful procedure. The second survey was conducted among a sample of 45 medical and paramedical workers of the neonatology department of the CHU MOHAMED VI Oujda. Eighteen percent of the medical and paramedical staff indicated that they had taken specific training in pain and palliative care. A specific training session was organized for enhancing pain management. Before the training, 44% of caregivers had never assessed the pain level of their patient whereas after the training 78% of them will always assess the pain, this improved significantly post training. Regarding pain management, before training, it was not done routinely, fifty-eight percent of caregivers reported that they rarely or never used any preventive strategies, whereas after training, 84% reported always or often using preventive measures. The majority of caregivers were against the presence of parents during invasive procedures.