Knowledge about the management of neonatal pain in the nursing professional

Abstract

In daily practice in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), newborns are subjected to a series of procedures and therapeutic interventions that cause pain; Pain management in the newborn is important within specialized care in neonatology (Gallegos-Martínez & Salazar-Juárez, 2010). Patricia Benner in her theory points out that, as the professional acquires this experience, clinical knowledge becomes a mixture of practical and theoretical knowledge. It is important to mention that nursing sees the human being as a holistic being in each of the stages of his life. Objective: Identify the level of knowledge about pain management in the Neonatal Intensive Care area by the nursing professional Methodology: A quantitative, descriptive study was carried out, its type of research is prospective, longitudinal. The subjects were nursing staff. With a universe of 35 nurses from all shifts and a sample of 20 participants at the convenience of the NICU area from different shifts (morning, afternoon, night and cumulative shift). An instrument was used to measure knowledge of neonatal pain by nursing professionals in neonatal intensive care units carried out by Edwin Millán Flores and validated by the Ana G. Méndez University System (SUAGM) in Puerto, Rico. Results: The level of knowledge about neonatal pain management education was 35.0% of the nursing staff had a good level of knowledge and 45.0% had an excellent level. Conclusions: Although we have the knowledge, the nursing professional Benner tells us that we must reach the experts, therefore, it is necessary to design tools or strategies that take us to the experts, to apply the knowledge and share it with the other personnel in the area.