Neonatal procedure pain

July 6, 2008

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A paper in JAMA examines painful and stressful procedures in neonates cared for in Parisian intensive care units, and comes to the conclusion that on average, each baby undergoes about 10 painful procedures a day, the majority with no analgesia at all. Many of these are repeated failures of common procedures such as insertions of intravenous cannulas or central catheters. The authors acknowledge the difficulties of effective analgesia in neonates, but suggest that the evidence that early pain can have lasting consequences means ICU staff need to think carefully about the risks and benefits of ‘routine’ practices

Carbajal et al (2008) Epidemiology and Treatment of Painful Procedures in Neonates in Intensive Care Units. JAMA. 300, p.60-70.