Related Experiment Videos
Pain in the newborn
1Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
Insights
Newborns experience pain, challenging old beliefs. Understanding infant pain responses is crucial for their medical status and development, necessitating objective assessment tools.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pediatric pain management
- Clinical assessment
Background:
- Historical clinical assumptions regarding newborn pain perception are examined.
- Recent evidence indicates newborns experience pain, contrary to past beliefs.
- Infant pain responses can negatively impact medical status and development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review historical assumptions about newborn pain.
- To discuss current evidence on neonatal pain experience and its consequences.
- To evaluate existing newborn pain assessment techniques.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of historical and current evidence on newborn pain.
- Analysis of clinical management practices influenced by assumptions about infant pain.
- Evaluation of available pain assessment tools for newborns.
Main Results:
- Historic assumptions have significantly influenced newborn pain management.
- Newborns demonstrably experience pain, with potential adverse effects.
- Current pain assessment methods require further refinement.
Conclusions:
- Revising clinical practices based on new evidence is essential.
- Objective assessment of newborn pain is critical for optimal care.
- Further research into neonatal pain indicators is warranted.
Abstract:
This article reviews historic assumptions about newborns that have influenced the clinical management of pain in the newborn. These are discussed in light of more recent evidence that newborns not only experience pain but that their responses to pain may compromise their medical status and development. Currently available techniques for assessing newborn pain are considered with special emphasis on an objective clinical index of newborn pain.