| Background: There is enough evidence to suggest that repeated invasive procedures have long-term consequences. Given the frequency of painful procedures, the potential negative consequences of experiencing repeated painful procedures, and the potential risks of opiate analgesics for frequent procedural pain, it would seem that safe nonpharmacological interventions should be tested to control for procedural pain. In the west, there are reports of Kangaroo Care(KC) being used with full-term neonates for decreasing pain response during heel lancing showed that KC was safe and had a powerful effect. However, there is no such research about KC in China.Objective: 1 .To compare the effect of KC on pain indicators of a sample of neonates with a control group receiving standard care. 2.To appraise the feasibility and safty of KC in China.Method: A prospective randomized controlled design was employed. A convenience sample of 100 neonates from a Beijing hospital undergoing heel-stick for the Newborn Screening Program Blood Test, were enrolled. The neonates were randomized into 2 groups: KC group and control group. Neonates in the former group were given KC 15 minutes before heel-stick until 1 minute after collecting blood. The control group experienced the same heel-stick and received the standard hospital care. Throughout the heel-stick procedure, heart rate and oxygen saturation were monitored, crying and facial grimacing were recorded by digital camera, they became the indicators of neonatal pain. Data were analyzed by using student T test, repeated measures analysis of variance and Chi-square test. In addition, researcher appraised the safty of KC before heel-stick and feasibility of KC by interviewing KC group mother after collecting blood.Results: A total of 90 neonates were included. During heel-stick, heart rate was significantly reduced in the KC group(144beats/min) compared with the contol group(156beats/min)(P < 0.05), crying time and facial grimacing were significantly shorter in the KC group (41s and 47s) compared with the contol group (60s and 60s) (P <0.05), oxygen saturation was significantly higher in KC group(91%) than control group(86%)(P < 0.05). During heel-stick recovery period, the differences in pain indicators between KC group and control group such as heart rate (153 vs 164 beats/min) and oxygen saturation(90% vs 85%) have also reached statistical significance(P < 0.05). There were less neonates crying or being with facial grimacing in KC group than in control group in recovery time(P < 0.05). In addition, results show that KC is feasible and safe.Conclusions: During heel-stick and its recovery time, KC can reduce the commonlyaccepted indicators of neonatal pain such as heart rate, crying, facial grimacing andincrease oxygen saturation. It is recommended that KC be used as a feasible and safenon-pharmacologic intervention to relieve acute pain in term infants. |
