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Effect of Multisensory Stimulation on Pain of Eye Examination in Preterm Infants
Hossein Zeraati1, Javad Shahinfar2, Hamidreza Behnam Vashani3
1Instructor, MS in Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
Insights
Multisensory stimulation effectively reduced pain during retinopathy of prematurity screening eye exams in preterm infants. This non-pharmacological method offers a safe and easy approach to manage procedural pain in neonates.
Area of Science:
- Neonatal care
- Pain management
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Eye examinations for retinopathy of prematurity screening are painful for preterm infants.
- Pain can induce adverse physiological and behavioral changes.
- Multisensory stimulation is a non-pharmacological analgesic method.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of multisensory stimulation on pain during eye exams for retinopathy of prematurity screening.
- To assess the efficacy of this intervention in preterm infants.
Main Methods:
- Double-blind clinical trial with 80 preterm infants.
- Intervention group received 15 minutes of multisensory stimulation before the exam.
- Control group received routine care; pain assessed using the Premature Infant Pain Profile.
Main Results:
- Significant difference in pain scores between groups during assessment (P < 0.001).
- Pain severity changes during examination were significantly lower in the multisensory stimulation group.
- The intervention group experienced less intensive pain compared to the control group.
Conclusions:
- Multisensory stimulation is a safe and simple method to reduce pain in neonates.
- This technique can be utilized to alleviate pain during infant eye examinations.
- It offers a promising non-pharmacological strategy for pain management in preterm infants.
Background:
Eye examination as one of the painful procedures for retinopathy of prematurity screening can cause some pain-related physiological and behavioral changes in preterm infants. Multisensory stimulation is an analgesic non-pharmacological method that has analgesic effects on infants during painful procedures.
Objectives:
This study aimed to determine the effect of multisensory stimulation on induced pain during eye examination for retinopathy of prematurity screening in preterm infants.
Methods:
In this double-blind clinical trial, 80 preterm infants were randomly divided into two groups. In the intervention group, multisensory stimulation program was performed for 15 minutes before the beginning of examination while the control group received the routine care. Pain score for each infant was recorded by premature infant pain profile. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Mann-Whitney, and ANOVA with repeated measures by SPSS software (version 16).
Results:
The mean gestational age was 30.4 ± 1.7 weeks in the multisensory stimulation group and 30.6 ± 1.8 weeks in the control group. Based on ANOVA with repeated measures, the pain score was significantly different between two groups during the assessment process (P < 0.001). The changes in pain severity during the examination were also significant between the two groups (P < 0.001); so that the pain was more intensive in the control group than the intervention group.
Conclusions:
Multisensory stimulation program as a safe and easy method can reduce pain in neonates and may be used as a way to reduce pain during eye examination in infants.
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