Tayseer Jamal Afifi
Pain is now considered by many international pain societies
to be the fifth vital sign. The need to assess and
treat neonatal pain has been increasingly appreciated.
So, proper assessment of pain is essential to allow safe
and compassionate care of infants in the neonatal intensive
care unit (NICU). The is the first national Palestinian
study that involved 850 neonates at five NICUs in
Gaza Strip and eight NICUs in West Bank. The study
was in the year 2018 from August 15th to November 1st.
Among the 850 observed neonates, 68% were males and
the mean age was 9 days. Most of neonates were admitted
within the first 24-hours of life primarily due to prematurity.
Exposure to painful procedures was assessed by the
team members, including blood sampling and cannulation,
in addition to invasive procedures such as lumber
puncture and mechanical ventilation. Regarding pain assessment,
most neonates scored less than five during procedure
assessment, which meant they only needed some
nursing comforting measures. However, nothing was
done to handle this pain. There were marked differences
in practice among all units. On the other hand, most neonates
showed that the post-procedural assessment score
was the same as or more than the pre-procedural assessment
score. While few showed the opposite in whom interventions
were done to reduce the pain. Some neonates
were sedated at time of assessment. Nevertheless, physiologic
parameters demonstrated that they were distressed
during the procedure. There was no relation between the
age of neonate and the pain score
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