Current status of premature infants′ pain operation experienced during hospitalization

Abstract

Objective To investigate the premature infants′ pain operation during their hospitalization and thus provide evidence for the necessity of premature infants pain management. Methods Using the method of convenient sampling, we prospectively collected data of all painful procedures performed on 111 premature infants who recruited from admission to discharge in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Shenzhen. The pain of premature infant was evaluated by premature infant pain profile (PIPP). Results During hospitalization, 111 premature infants were exposed to 8 258 painful operations, with each preterm having (74.4±18.22) times and averagely (3.72±1.53) times each day. Below 1 500 g birth weight infants and equal and beyond 1 500 g birth weight infants were exposed to a median of 153 and 46 painful procedures, respectively. Among those painful procedures, 3M Transparent Dressing removal was the most frequently pain operation performed on preterm neonates, and peripheral arterial puncture, plantar blood sampling, and subcutaneous injection were top three reasons caused most pain. Conclusions Premature infants, particularly very/extremely low birth weight infants (VLBWI/ELBWI ), are exposed to numerous invasive painful procedures. It is necessary to train health-care workers to enhance their pain management ability, thereby to reduce the adverse effects of pain stimuli to the premature infants. Key words: Hospitalization; Premature infants; Painful operation; Pain management