• Okonkwo Ikechukwu, Okolo Angela, and Omoigberale Augustine.
• Neonatal Division, Department of Child Health, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
• Afr Health Sci. 2023 Mar 1; 23 (1): 678685678-685.

BackgroundPain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. The perception of pain is variable and knowledge may not match practise.AimsTo ascertain the knowledge, attitude and practice of neonatal pain management (NPM) among HCW in newborn units across Nigeria.MethodsThe validated questionnaire administered to consenting doctors and nurses working in various newborn units in Nigeria was utilised.ResultsThere were 256 respondents from tertiary institutions 228 (89.1%) located in 31 states of Nigeria. There were 91% doctors and 8.6% nurses'. The perception of newborn pain was high (≥95%) among doctors and nurses . Up to 67.1% of the doctors and 57.1% of nurses were aware of NPM. One third (37.3%) of doctor respondents knew of NPM from friends and colleagues while half of the nurses knew from course textbooks.Pain definition was in most by sensation (94%), 50% by emotion. Most nurses were aware of the subjective report of potential tissue damage and knew the facial expressions of pain compared to doctors. Crying was equally recognised as an expression of pain. Perception of non-pharmacologic methods of NPM was highest for massaging and KMC; the knowledge of Sucrose analgesia was low. Procedural pain perception was poor and analgesia was for few procedures.ConclusionsPerception of pain was high but did not match knowledge and practice of NPM. Formal education on NPM was lacking in the training of HCW.© 2023 Ikechukwu O et al.

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