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Identifying signs that nurses interpret as indicating pain in newborns
Purpose Of The Study:
The purpose is to explore the behavioral and physiological signs that nurses interpret as suggesting the possibility of pain in the newborn.
Methodology:
The data collection instrument used was a General Information and Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire asking nurses to identify those physiological and behavioral signs that suggest the possibility of pain in the newborn. It was distributed to 109 nurses who worked in units where newborns are hospitalized; this was in a 1,000-bed tertiary care, university-affiliated hospital in the Midwest.
Results:
Eighty-one nurses responded (74%). Three signs were selected "always" with a high frequency: fussiness, crying, and grimacing. When the scores of "always" and "usually" were combined for these three items, the figures are 96%, 79%, and 79%, respectively for selection rate.
Conclusions:
The fact that only three signs were selected with confidence suggests the difficulty and tentative nature of nursing decisions regarding the assessment of pain in the newborn.