Instrumentation and implementation of pain evaluation scale in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Premature neonates admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Units receive approximately 130 to 234 manipulations every 24h, being many of them painful approaches. So, nursing team education and instrumentation are important for pain evaluation with a validated scale, which is excellence and safety assurance for patients’ care. In light of the above, our objective was to describe how instrumentation of the nursing team of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was carried out to implement the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale for neonatal pain evaluation. CASE REPORT: After literature review and definition of the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale for pain evaluation, the nursing team acting in that unit was instrumented for its application together with other vital signs. In addition, a pain handling protocol was developed. During instrumentation, opportunity was given for questions and answers. Of note is the importance of nurses’ contributions aiming at making feasible the implementation of this scale and of the pain handling protocol. CONCLUSION: It was observed that as from the moment the team has enhanced its knowledge about neonatal pain, many questions were asked about actions to be taken by the team with regard to the evaluated pain. In this sense, it is considered that nurses should play their role as health education protagonists, thus assuring quality of care. It has also to be stressed the importance of study groups focusing on pain evaluation in intensive care and other hospital units.