Pain assessment scales in newborns: integrative review* *Study conducted at Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil

Assessment of pain in newborn infants

Hospitalized newborn infants experience pain that can have negative short- and long-term consequences and thus should be prevented and treated. National and international guidelines state that adequate pain management requires valid pain assessment. Nociceptive signals cause a cascade of physical and behavioral reactions that alone or in combination can be observed and used to assess the presence and intensity of pain. Units that are caring for newborn infants must adopt sufficient pain assessment tools to cover the gestational ages and pain types that occurs in their setting. Pain assessment should be performed on a regular basis and any detection of pain should be acted on. Future research should focus on developing and validating pain assessment tools for specific situations.

Validation of Greek Versions of the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and Premature Infant Pain Profile in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

BACKGROUND

The Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and the Premature Infant Pain Profile have been used widely in neonatal intensive care units for pain assessment.

AIM

This study reports the evaluation and validation of these scales in full-term newborns who were hospitalized in two Greek neonatal intensive care units. Evaluation and validation of the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and the Premature Infant Pain Profile in full-term newborns who were hospitalized in two Greek neonatal intensive care units.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study. Two neonatal intensive care units at a large General Children's Hospital in Greece. A total of 81 full-term newborns. This cross-sectional study was conducted in two neonatal intensive care units at a large General Children's Hospital in Greece. We studied 81 full-term newborns, who were exposed to various painful routine procedures. A single measurement was taken from each neonate. Two observers were present during each procedure and evaluated pain using both the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and Premature Infant Pain Profile. Internal consistency coefficient Cronbach's α, internal class agreement coefficient, and κ factor were appropriately measured.

RESULTS

The weighting of the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and Premature Infant Pain Profile pointed out an excellent coherence between the two scales and agreement among the researchers. The internal consistency coefficient Cronbach's α was >.8 and the internal class agreement coefficient was >.98 for both scales, which indicates an excellent consistency between scales. The κ factor for Neonatal Infant Pain Scale was >.73 and for the Premature Infant Pain Profile it was >.6, which indicates a significant agreement among investigators.

CONCLUSIONS

The Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and Premature Infant Pain Profile were successfully adjusted in Greek standards with reliability between the scales and among the researchers. Moreover, they constitute reliable tools for the evaluation of neonatal procedural pain in full-term newborns in Greece.