Preemies Face Painful Hospital Procedures
July 1, 2008 -- Newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) often undergo painful and stressful procedures without pain treatment, a new study shows.
The study is based on 430 newborns -- born after 33 weeks of pregnancy, on average -- who spent the first two weeks of their lives at one of 13 NICUs in Paris.
Parenting Videos
Related Slideshows
The babies typically experienced 16 procedures, including 10 painful procedures -- such as having a tube placed in their nose or trachea, or blood drawn -- per day.
The newborns got analgesia -- including pain medication or care that doesn't involve drugs (such as giving the babies a sweet drink, letting them suck on a pacifier, or giving them skin-to-skin contact with their mother) -- only 20% of the time before the painful procedures.
Part of the problem is that the medical staff often had to attempt procedures more than once before succeeding, note the researchers, who included Ricardo Carbajal, MD, PhD, of the Hopital d'enfants Armand Trousseau in Paris.
Carbajal's team makes two recommendations:
- Create effective pain-prevention programs for newborns in NICUs.
- Find ways to reduce the number of painful and stressful procedures in NICUs.
The findings appear in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
del.icio.us
Important Safety Information
Vimpat (lacosamide) is a medicine that is used with other medicines to treat partial onset seizures in patients 17 years of age and older with epilepsy. Vimpat is generally well-tolerated, but may not be for everyone. Ask your doctor if Vimpat is right for you. Antiepileptic drugs, including Vimpat, may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people, about 1 in 500. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have new or worsening symptoms of depression, any unusual changes in mood or behavior, or suicidal thoughts, behavior, or thoughts about self harm that you have never had before or may be worse than before. Please see additional patient information in the Medication Guide at the end of the full prescribing information. This information does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider about your condition or your treatment. Please see additional Patient Safety Information
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
-
6
-
7
-
8
-
9
-
10
-
11
-
12
Sleep expert helps new moms get more rest.
