Neonatal Pain And Preventive Strategies: An Experience In A Tertiary Care Unit

Little is known about neonatal pain in Pakistan. So, to know about neonatal pain, its scoring and the effectiveness of oral dextrose in neonatal pain management we carried this study in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of military hospital (MH) Rawalpindi.

This randomized control trial was carried out in NICU of MH, Rawalpindi from Jan to Dec 2013. Total of 252 babies were enrolled in the study. We assessed neonatal pain by using Modified Behavioural Pain Scale (MBPS). Babies were given 10% dextrose and sterile water two minutes before a painful procedure and pain assessment was done after the procedure. The different painful procedures included, heel prick, nasogastric (NG) tube insertion, cannulation, catheterization and venepuncture for blood sampling.

A total of 252 babies were enrolled in the study. Of these 139 (55%) were male and 113 (45%) were female babies. Painful procedures included heel lancing 120 (48%), I/V cannulations 60 (24%), venepuncture 40 (16%), NG insertion 26 (10%) and Foley catheterization 6 (2%). Mean MBPS score with 10% dextrose and sterile water were 4.31 and 6.26 respectively and the difference between two was significant statically.

Oral dextrose is a cheap and easily available solution and can be used in neonatal pain management during various painful procedures.