According to the World Health Organization (2012), 1 in 10 babies around the world are born prematurely. This equates to more than 15 million preterm births worldwide each year. Many of these babies will require special care to just stay alive (WHO, 2012). This means that many of these babies will experience some care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) depending on gestational age and other clinical conditions. Lenclen and Carbajal (2007) found that an infant may have as many as 115 procedures performed in a two week time period. Many of the procedures may be painful and invasive in nature. Heel sticks were found to be the procedure most commonly experienced by infants in the NICU (Rutter & Baker, 2015). Heel sticks are utilized
…show more content…
They go on to note that in the past it was believed that neonates were not sensitive to pain due to immature immune systems. Lopez et al. (2014) suggested that it was also believed that the infants would forget the pain as fast as it occurred. Thakur, Sarin and Kumar (2015) report that newborns do in fact feel pain and that the crying from pain is different than reflexive crying. Pain has been found to change autonomic functions such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation (Aguilar et al., 2014). Standard management of pain includes pharmacological methods which frequently have negative side effects and are not always effective in infants (Thakur et al., 2015). Alternative methods of pain management include non-pharmacological methods such as sucrose and breast feeding have shown mixed results in preterm infants (Nimbalkar, Chaudhary, Gadhavi, & Phatak, …show more content…
None of the studies tested the effectiveness of Kangaroo Mother Care on infants with a gestational age of under 28 weeks. Additionally, 15 minutes of Kangaroo Mother Care seemed to be standard but no testing was done to see if longer Kangaroo Mother Care related to lower PIPP scores. The effectiveness of Kangaroo Mother Care is not clear in relation to the factors discussed above. It is important to explore the length of time in which Kangaroo Mother Care should be performed for optimal PIPP reduction. By performing further studies it will be possible to determine if Kangaroo Mother Care performed for 30 minutes prior to heel sticks in the NICU will result in lower PIPP scores as compared to the infant being left in a bed for the procedure. By answering this question, NICU staff will be able to form better guidelines for the use of Kangaroo Mother Care in reducing pain during heel
They go on to note that in the past it was believed that neonates were not sensitive to pain due to immature immune systems. Lopez et al. (2014) suggested that it was also believed that the infants would forget the pain as fast as it occurred. Thakur, Sarin and Kumar (2015) report that newborns do in fact feel pain and that the crying from pain is different than reflexive crying. Pain has been found to change autonomic functions such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation (Aguilar et al., 2014). Standard management of pain includes pharmacological methods which frequently have negative side effects and are not always effective in infants (Thakur et al., 2015). Alternative methods of pain management include non-pharmacological methods such as sucrose and breast feeding have shown mixed results in preterm infants (Nimbalkar, Chaudhary, Gadhavi, & Phatak, …show more content…
None of the studies tested the effectiveness of Kangaroo Mother Care on infants with a gestational age of under 28 weeks. Additionally, 15 minutes of Kangaroo Mother Care seemed to be standard but no testing was done to see if longer Kangaroo Mother Care related to lower PIPP scores. The effectiveness of Kangaroo Mother Care is not clear in relation to the factors discussed above. It is important to explore the length of time in which Kangaroo Mother Care should be performed for optimal PIPP reduction. By performing further studies it will be possible to determine if Kangaroo Mother Care performed for 30 minutes prior to heel sticks in the NICU will result in lower PIPP scores as compared to the infant being left in a bed for the procedure. By answering this question, NICU staff will be able to form better guidelines for the use of Kangaroo Mother Care in reducing pain during heel