Pain in neonate infants: diagnostic and therapeutic approach

Abstract

Neonate infants suffer unnecessary pain due to the complexity of their evaluation, the lack of training of health professionals, the fear to secondary effects of medications, and the presumption that they do not feel it. However, behavioural and physiologic indicators lead to conclude that neonates do feel pain, the prevention and treatment of which avoid suffering and harmful future effects. It is now known that neonates unadequately treated for pain will present learning difficulties and disorders of conduct, memory, socialization, self regulation and sentiment expression. Pain treatment should include humanized assistance, good techniques, precise instruments, and pharmacologic as well as nonpharmacologic approaches; included in the former are opioids, and in the latter adequate posture, caresses, lullaby, pleasant images, music, tactile stimulation and movement. Presently, active research is taking place in the development of noninvasive analgesic methods. It is necessary to create awareness about pain in neonate infants, its detection, evaluation, prevention and treatment.