Painful procedures and analgesia in hospitalized newborns: A prospective longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective: To identify the type and frequency of stressful and painful procedures, the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies; to identify relationships between demographic and clinical variables with frequency of procedures and pain management. Design: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) of two hospitals in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. 140 newborns admitted to the NICU between June 2014 and January 2015 were included. Results: A total of 21,291 procedures were documented, 18,131 (85.2%) stressful procedures and 3,160 (14.8%) invasive skin-breaking painful procedures. Each day of hospitalization increased by 10.9 th..