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[Pain relieving effect of yakson therapy for infants]
Eun-Sook Park1, Kyung-Suk Sung, Won-Oak Oh
1College of Nursing, Korea University, Korea.
Insights
Yakson therapy significantly reduced pain and improved oxygen saturation in infants during heelstick procedures. This simple nursing intervention offers an effective, non-pharmacological approach to infant pain management.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pain management
- Pediatric nursing
Context:
- Heelstick procedures are a common source of iatrogenic pain in neonates.
- Effective pain management is crucial for infant well-being and development.
- Non-pharmacological interventions are increasingly sought for infant pain relief.
Purpose:
- To evaluate the efficacy of Yakson therapy as a pain management strategy for infants undergoing heelstick procedures.
- To assess the impact of Yakson therapy on both physiological and behavioral responses to procedural pain in infants.
Summary:
- A randomized controlled trial compared Yakson therapy (tactile stimulation) with no intervention in infants undergoing heelstick procedures.
- Infants receiving Yakson therapy exhibited lower pain scores and improved oxygen saturation (SaO2) compared to the control group.
- No significant differences in heart rate were observed between the Yakson therapy and control groups.
Impact:
- Yakson therapy demonstrates a pain-relieving effect on behavioral responses and SaO2 in infants.
- Findings support the integration of Yakson therapy as a nursing intervention for managing pain associated with heel pricks.
- This non-pharmacological method offers a safe and accessible option for reducing infant procedural pain.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of Yakson therapy as a pain management tool on the physiologic and behavioral responses of infants with a painful heelstick procedure.
Method:
Infants were randomly assigned to a group that underwent a series of Yakson therapy and a control that received nothing before a heelstick. Heart rate, oxygen saturation, and NIPS were compared between the experimental (n=16) and control (n=16) infants during an undisturbed baseline and after a standard heelstick procedure. Yakson therapy consisted of laying a hand on the back, and caressing the abdomen by hand for 5 minutes.
Result:
The pain scores of the Yakson group were lower than the control group. For oxygen saturation, there were statistically significant differences between groups. For heart rate, there were no statistically significant differences between groups.
Conclusion:
This data suggests that Yakson therapy had a pain relief effect in behavior responses and SaO2. Accordingly, Yakson therapy should be used as a nursing intervention for simple pain management for a heel prick.
