Conhecimentos e práticas de enfermagem na avaliação e controle da dor no recém-nascido e lactente

Abstract

Introduction: Pain is something common that most caregivers of newborns have to go through and it has a greater impact on their health, as they are more sensitive to pain because their nervous system is still developing and they don't have the same emotional maturity to deal with it. Objective: To assess the knowledge and practices of nursing professionals in identifying and controlling pain in newborns and infants. Methodology: This is a descriptive-exploratory field study with a quantitative-qualitative approach. The research setting was a children's hospital and a maternity hospital in the municipality of Caxias. Sixty-two nursing professionals took part in the research, and a questionnaire was applied on the sociodemographic profile and another on routine care in the identification and control of pain in newborns. The data was entered and analyzed using EpiInfo software. Results: the professional profile of the nursing staff was mostly female (93.55%), aged between 31 and 35 (22.57%), single (45.14%), self-declared brown (67.68%), with more than 7 years' experience in the field (41.93%). Nursing professionals agree that newborns/infants feel pain, with 85.42% fully agreeing, with regard to pain altering physiological signs (87.10%) fully agreeing, and with regard to behavioral changes (88.73%) fully agreeing. Changing positioning to relieve pain is a widely used strategy (35.47%). As for skin-to-skin contact in the kangaroo position for comfort and pain relief, (35.47%) said they always do this. Breastfeeding is also widely used to relieve pain, (29.03%) responded that they always use this strategy. Conclusion: The majority of nursing professionals have an adequate knowledge of pain in newborns and infants and its management during their professional routine, since it is also possible to obtain this knowledge in practice, in addition to theory.