J. Gržinić
Klinični oddelek za neonatologijo, Pediatrična klinika, Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija

D. Paro Panjan
Klinični oddelek za neonatologijo, Pediatrična klinika, Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija

J. Kersnik
Fakulteta za vede o zdravju, Univerza na primorskem, Izola, Slovenija.

Abstract

Background: Hospitalized newborns are exposed to many interventions and procedures that may cause pain. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) for the identification and determination of the degree of pain in newborns. Materials and methods: The study included 35 infants (average birth weight 3183 grams; average age 12.26 days) hospitalized in the Clinical Department of Neonatology, Division of Paediatrics, University Medical Centre Ljubljana in the period from December 2011 to April 2012. We compared the measurements on the NIPS pain scale with measurements of physiological parameters (heart rate and respiration, oxygen saturation of haemoglobin) and tissue oxygenation in the somatosensory region of the brain cortex (rSO2) prior to, during and after a painful stimulus. Results: At the time of venepuncture, we observed statistically significantly increased NIPS values, heart rates, respiratory rates and a decline in rSO2 in comparison to measurements 2 minutes before the painful stimulus. Two minutes after the venepuncture, the values of all parameters remained unchanged, although the behavioural signs had statistically significantly eased. Conclusions: Our results show that the NIPS scale helps to recognize pain in newborns.

Key words: newborn, pain, venepuncture, NIPS.