Garcia-Rodriguez MT, Bujan-Bravo S, Seijo-Bestilleiro R, Gonzalez-Martin C. Pain assessment and management in the newborn: A systematized review. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9(21): 5921-5931 [PMID: 34368310 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i21.5921]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Cristina Gonzalez-Martin, PhD, Full Professor, Research in Nursing and Health Care, Institute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña (INIBIC), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, As Xubias 84, 15006 A Coruña Universidade da Coruña (UDC), A Coruña 15006, Spain. cristina.gmartin@udc.es
Research Domain of This Article
Nursing
Article-Type of This Article
Systematic Reviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2021; 9(21): 5921-5931 Published online Jul 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i21.5921
Pain assessment and management in the newborn: A systematized review
Maria Teresa Garcia-Rodriguez, Sergio Bujan-Bravo, Rocio Seijo-Bestilleiro, Cristina Gonzalez-Martin
Maria Teresa Garcia-Rodriguez, Rocio Seijo-Bestilleiro, Cristina Gonzalez-Martin, Research in Nursing and Health Care, Institute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña (INIBIC), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, As Xubias 84, 15006 A Coruña Universidade da Coruña (UDC), A Coruña 15006, Spain
Sergio Bujan-Bravo, Health Sciences, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña, A Coruña 15006, Spain
Author contributions: Garcia-Rodriguez MT and Martin CG contributed equally to this work; Bravo SB performed the research; Garcia-Rodriguez MT, Martin CG, and Bestilleiro RS wrote the manuscript; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Cristina Gonzalez-Martin, PhD, Full Professor, Research in Nursing and Health Care, Institute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña (INIBIC), Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, As Xubias 84, 15006 A Coruña Universidade da Coruña (UDC), A Coruña 15006, Spain. cristina.gmartin@udc.es
Received: February 15, 2021 Peer-review started: February 15, 2021 First decision: April 25, 2021 Revised: May 5, 2021 Accepted: June 1, 2021 Article in press: June 1, 2021 Published online: July 26, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Neonatal pain has been underdiagnosed due to several false beliefs.
AIM
To determine the status of neonatal pain in newborns who are admitted to intensive care units.
METHODS
Different databases were searched. Literature reviews and research reports conducted in newborns that were written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, published between 2010 and 2020, and having free access to the full text were selected. A total of 135 articles were found, and 18 articles were finally reviewed.
RESULTS
Newborns are exposed to numerous painful procedures. In order to assess their pain levels, several scales have been used, although they are sometimes not correctly interpreted. In terms of pain management, the nursing team plays a very important role based mainly on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches.
CONCLUSION
Nursing staff members must be well trained in order to identify pain and to interpret the scales correctly. Besides, they have an important role in performing non-pharmacological procedures for pain management.
Core Tip: The painful experiences in newborns can cause side effects both in the short and long term. Nowadays, most newborns admitted to intensive care units do not receive adequate pain assessment using validated clinic scales. Training healthcare professionals is important, so that they can correctly assess and manage pain in newborns, based on evidence and not only on clinical practice or personal experience. There is a lack of protocols about neonatal pain management in intensive care units as well as little presence of pain management teams and/or leaders to tackle it correctly.
