Training program for pain assessment in the newborn

Neonatal pain management practices in Somali region of Ethiopia: insights from neonatal intensive care unit providers

Background

Neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units experience an average of 8-17 moderate to severe painful procedures per day. Because neonates lack the cognitive capacity to express their pain's location or severity, they are very dependent on healthcare providers to recognize, assess, and manage their pain. The health and development of newborns are negatively impacted by persistent or untreated pain experienced early in life. Therefore, studying neonatal pain management practices and associated factors in healthcare is critical to tackling workforce problems, enhancing neonatal care, and lowering the long-term health impacts of neonates.

Method

From January 1 to 30, 2023, a facility-based cross-sectional study design was used at six public hospitals in the Somali region of Ethiopia. A total of 336 healthcare providers enrolled using a simple random sample technique. A self-administered, structured questionnaire was utilized to collect the data. The analyses used bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. To find the association between the outcome and predictor factors, the odd ratio and the 95% CI were computed.

Result

The study revealed that 35.4% [95% CI 30.4%-40.5%] of respondents reported that they had good neonatal pain management practices. Ever having undergone training in neonatal pain assessment and management [AOR = 2.26 (95% CI 1.259, 4.07)], availability of pain assessment tools [AOR = 3.05 (95% CI 1.249, 7.469)], and having a favorable attitude toward neonatal pain management practice [AOR = 3.71 (95% CI 1.525, 9.035)] were found to be factors with a significant association with neonatal pain management practice.

Conclusion

Based on the study's findings, there is a low level of neonatal pain management practice among healthcare providers in the Somali region. The study emphasizes the significance of having access to pain assessment tools and the requirement for healthcare professionals to get training on neonatal pain assessment and management.

Implementation and Evaluation of the Premature Infant Pain Profile-revised (PIPP-R) e-Learning Module for Assessing Pain in Infants

OBJECTIVES

The Premature Infant Pain Profile-revised (PIPP-R) is a well-established measure for infant pain assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation and clinical utility of the PIPP-R electronic learning (e-Learning) module to promote standardized health care training for nurses.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A descriptive mixed-methods study was conducted in 2 tertiary Neonatal Intensive Care Units in Canada. Nurses were recruited and asked to complete the PIPP-R e-Learning Module and evaluate it. A 26-item questionnaire was used to describe nurse demographics and clinical experience and to evaluate implementation success (ie, acceptability, feasibility, usability) and clinical utility.

RESULTS

In all, 98 nurses from 2 settings in Central and Eastern Canada participated; most were registered nurses highly experienced in neonatal nursing care. The majority had received previous training on the PIPP-R (61.2%) and routinely used it in practice (67.4%). They considered the e-Learning module as acceptable and feasible as it was easy to access (94.9%) and to navigate (94.8%). Content was considered clear (98.9%) and met users' learning needs (99.0%). Nurses agreed that completing the module improved their understanding of neonatal pain (96.0%) and was clinically useful in improving their ability to assess pain in neonates (97.9%). The module was accessed primarily from work settings (77.8%) using desktop computers (49.0%) or tablets (28.0%) and was usually completed in a single session (75.7%).

DISCUSSION

Nurses' evaluation of the PIPP-R e-Learning module was overwhelmingly positive. The module was perceived as easy to implement, clinically useful, and was considered as a promising online educational tool. Further testing in clinical practice is needed to build on the results of this study and support the importance of dissemination of this module for standardized training purposes.