Nurses' improved provision of infants’ procedural pain assessment and management with non-pharmacological interventions following a training program in Jordan

Abstract

This study aims to compare the frequency of nurses’ documented assessment and performance of non-pharmacologic interventions to relieve procedural pain in neonates before and after a training intervention. Forty neonatal nurses received knowledge and clinical training about procedural pain assessment and non-pharmacological management related to neonates.The charts of 70–80 Neonatal Intensive Care Units admissions were compared at three-time points: once before and twice after the training intervention. Nurses’ documentation of pain assessment and non-pharmacological pain management techniques demonstrated significantly higher frequencies one month after the training than baseline (p = .00) and three months after the training than after the first month (p = .00). The training positively affected the pain management practices of nurses and clinical practice showed progressive improvement over time; all of which emphasize the importance of nurses' in-service training in improving the application of pain assessment and non-pharmacologic pain reduction strategies in NICUs.