Studying Signs of Pain in Neonates

Introduction: Pain is a destructive one and remains in the mind of the child suffering from it. Hence the aim of this study was to determine the behavioral and physiological pain in neonates admitted in pediatric wards. Methods: This is a descriptive study. Sample size was estimated to be about 141, and this number of the subjects were selected in six months period. The data were recorded in check list prepared according to als, theory of development and lawrance s Neonate-Infant pain scale (NIPS), the data were analyzed by EPI 6 soft ware. Results: From 141 cases under study were 63(44.7%) infants female and 78(55.3%) infants male. Mean age was 7.2 ± 6.5 days (1-17 days) and mean weight was 3015.2 ± 258.6 gram (2250-3950g), icter with 78 (55.3%) was the highest diagnosis to admition. Among the behavioral signs, facial expression with 96.8% and respiratory patern with 94.8% were the highest rate of signs. Mean score was 6.21 ± 1.85 (2-7). Also mean heart and respiratory rate during the procedure had significant increase compared to the previous ones. Significant relationship was observed only between facial expression and kind of procedure (P<0.01). Conclusion: Having proper strategy to kill pain in reonates admitted in hospital needs a standard procedure and a team work function. Since neonate cans t express pain verbally, their physiologic behavioral response must be noticed. Referring to the findings of the research, among these signs, facial expression, and increase in heart rate and number of breathing and change in pattern of respiration can be clue for studying the pain without need of any sophisticated instrument.