Changes in infant response to painful and non-painful procedures during hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Published: 2004
Language: eng
Number of pages: 113
Description: Hypothesis. Prolonged hospitalization will lead to a change in infant responses to painful but not to non-painful procedures over time.Methods. Infants &ge; 28 weeks gestation (at birth), hospitalized for fewer than 3 days (at enrolment) were recruited. Using an observational design, infants' heart rate and facial grimacing responses to a painful (heel lance or venipuncture) and non-painful encounter were assessed at baseline, then again at 2 weeks, and 3--4 weeks.Results. Data from twenty-eight infants were analyzed; for painful procedures there was no change in heart rate over time (p > 0.05) and an increase in facial grimacing over time was noted for the recovery period only (p = 0.05). For non-painful encounters, no changes over time were found. Infants were able to discriminate between painful and non-painful encounters at all time points (p &lt; 0.05).Conclusion/discussion. Prolonged hospitalization changed infant response to painful procedures over time during the recovery phase only but to non-painful procedures over time. More research is needed to further corroborate these findings.
Notes: Adviser:  Anna Taddio.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Toronto, 2004.

Electronic version licensed for access by U. of T. users.

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-03, page: 0833.

MICR copy on microfiche (2 microfiches).