[The frequency of pharmacological pain relief in university neonatal intensive care units].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the use of drugs to relieve procedural pain of newborn infants hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) of university hospitals.


METHODS
A prospective cohort study of all newborn infants hospitalized in four NICU during October 2001. The following data were collected: demographic data of patients; clinical morbidity; number of potentially painful procedures and frequency of analgesic administration. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to study the factors associated with the use of analgesia in this cohort of patients with SPSS 8.0.


RESULTS
Ninety-one newborn infants were admitted to the NICU during the study period (1,025 patient-days). Only 25% of the 1,025 patient-days received any systemic analgesia. No specific drug was administered to relieve acute pain during any of the following painful procedures: arterial, venous, capillary and lumbar punctures and tracheal intubation. For chest tube insertion, 100% of newborn infants received specific analgesia. For the insertion of central catheters, 8% of the newborn infants received analgesia. Only nine of the 17 newborn infants that underwent surgical procedures received any dose of analgesics during the postoperative period. Regarding patients who received analgesia, the drug of choice was fentanyl in 93%. The presence of mechanical ventilation increased 6.9 times the chance of the newborn receiving analgesia and the presence of a chest tube increased this chance by 5.0 times.


CONCLUSIONS
It is necessary to train health professionals in order to shorten the lag between scientific knowledge regarding newborn pain and clinical practice.
Prestes
Ana Claudia Y
AC
Disciplina Pediatria Neonatal, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina (UNIFESP/EPM), São Paulo, SP, Brazil. yoshikumiac@terra.com.br
Guinsburg
Ruth
R
Balda
Rita C X
RC
Marba
Sérgio T M
ST
Rugolo
Lígia M S S
LM
Pachi
Paulo R
PR
Bentlin
Maria Regina
MR
D000698:Analgesia / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001724:Birth Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000700:Analgesics; D005283:Fentanyl