• Carl Denis Britto, Suman Rao Pn, Saudamini Nesargi, Sitara Nair, Shashidhar Rao, Theradian Thilagavathy, Armugam Ramesh, and Swarnarekha Bhat.
• Department of Neonatology, St. John's Medical College, Bangalore, Karnataka 560034, India.
• J. Trop. Pediatr. 2014 Dec 1; 60 (6): 422-7.

AbstractThis prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the frequency of procedural pain among 101 neonates in the first 14 days of admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in South India and to study the perception of health-care professionals (HCP) about newborn procedural pain. The total number of painful procedures was 8.09 ± 5.53 per baby per day and 68.32 ± 64.78 per baby during hospital stay. The most common procedure was heel prick (30%). The HCP were administered a questionnaire to assess their perception of pain for various procedures. Procedures were perceived as more painful by nurses than by doctors. Chest tube placements and lumbar puncture were considered most painful. This study shows that the neonates in the NICU in developing countries experience many painful procedures. The awareness about this intensity of pain should provide a valuable tool in formulating pain-reduction protocols for management in low resource settings. © The Author [2014]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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