Neonates Essay

Ever since I was a little girl, I was always telling my parents I wanted to be a doctor to help people. As I got older my sisters had babies and I always wanted to hold them and take care of them furthermore, just recently I had come across a defined profession caring for infants in a great deal of need. I have been interested in helping people in need, performing surgeries and caring for infants since I was approximately eight years old. I have recently been doing some research on a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP), and believe that the job description fits me well. I would find a colossal amount of joy in being a NNP because I love being around babies and would enjoy being able to make a difference in their early life, as well as in their family’s lives.

Special care and attention must be given to infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because of their small size and the health complications they face. One particular challenge faced by health care professionals in the NICU is the management of pain for preterm babies. Preterm infants must undergo a wide range of tests, procedures, and, often, life-saving measures during their hospitalizations, which not only subjects them to pain, but pain-related stress and anxiety. This has an impact on the infants themselves, as well as on the family members and friends who are involved in their care (Smith, Steelfisher, Salhi, & Shen, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of pain management among preterm NICU patients and propose the implementation of kangaroo care as a pain management technique.

Children presenting to the emergency department are often subjected to painful and anxiety-producing procedures, both for diagnostic purposes and for treatment of symptoms. Historically, pediatric patients have not been afforded the same level of care as adults with regard to the management of procedural pain. Pain in the young child age group (1-7 years) has often been under-treated,

In this study the researchers tested the pain responses in newborns who are experiencing heel sticks. They split forty-eight newborns into four categories, each with a different type if milk odor origination. The four groups were: own mother’s breast milk odor, another mother’s breast milk odor, formula milk odor, and a control group (Nishitani, 2009). Different reactions were recorded in the duration of the heel sticks such as crying out, grimacing, and motor activities. Another

A study conducted from 1997 to 2006 shows an increase of Medicare patients receiving an epidural of one hundred and two percent per 100,000 people (Manchikanti). Epidurals allow the blockade of discomfort in a specific area with an injection of an anesthetic directly into the epidural space, located along the spinal column just below the spinal cord; however, the goal of this administration route is not to eliminate total lack of feeling but to provide the patient with relief from strain so they may continue their activities of daily living. Pain, the body’s number one defense mechanism, transmits signals through nerves to the final destination of the brain. By blocking irritated nerve signals with an epidural, the mind and body can relax. Narcotics, an alternative option for uneasiness, only last for a limited amount of time and require frequent administration, while epidurals possess a longer mechanism of action and only require a one-time injection. Therefore, it remains as the primary line of method of pain alleviation for labor. Epidurals provide effective pain relief for expectant mothers without causing harm to her or the newborn baby, which has, caused a dramatic increase in the popularity of epidurals over the past decade.

Neonates were once thought to be too developmentally immature to experience pain, it has been now understood that neonates even if very premature are able to process pain sensations and respond to that pain (Boyle, 2011). Although it is now understood that neonates can sense pain, it has been found that procedures have not changed to adequately address pain in the neonate. It has been found that pain in neonates that is over a long period or multiple acute pain experiences has long term effects on how pain is perceived into childhood (Boyle, 2011). One intervention that has been found to decrease pain experienced by a neonate is sucrose. It has been found that sucrose takes about two minutes to take effect and provides an analgesic

Acute pain following a surgical procedure is one of the most common stimuli experiences by pediatric patients. Pediatric postoperative pain management has long been overlooked and treated differently than adult pain management. There tend to many misconceptions when it comes to pediatric pain management stemming from the belief that children do not experience pain the same way as adults. Since the pediatric population is not legally allowed to make medical decisions, guardians must make these decisions for them.

There are a number of ways to assess pain in paediatric patients. These assessment methods can be broadly defined as self-report, behavioural observation and psychological observation. They should be used in combination with each other, as they have varying levels of reliability due to the influence of other factors that are unrelated to pain.

Derbyshire within Fetal Pain: Do We Know Enough to Do the Right thing? discusses the anatomy, anatomical pathways and the psychology relating to the fetus (Derbyshire, 2008). It has been suggested that because of the fetal capabilities there is a possibility that the fetus can respond emotionally and cognitively, with the possibility of the experience of pain in utero at seven, eight, and twenty-six weeks’ gestation (Derbyshire, 2008). An average woman does not know about her pregnancy until five to six week’s gestation, and by that point, the baby already has a heartbeat and its nervous system has begun to grow. By this point is when the mother decides if she wants to keep the child or abort it. The pain sensory, or known as the “Alarm system

The database was searched for main terms for information on the related topic included oral sucrose, infants, and immunizations. Alternative terms included oral sweeteners, neonates, needles, and analgesia. MeSH terms included Needles*, Sucrose/*administration & dosage, Pain/*prevention & control, Punctures/*adverse effects, Sweetening Agents/*administration & dosage, Humans; Infant; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic. Inclusion criteria included infants < 1 year of age, publication dates: 2005-2016, randomized control trial, systematic review, USA, glucose/sucrose,

When it comes to medicine and the human body, everyone is different. We react to medications differently, to disease processes differently and especially to pain. Giving birth is one of the most natural events to occur in a woman’s life but every woman’s experience is different and so is their pain. Some are able to go through hours of labor and push for twenty minutes with pain levels they believe to be minimal. Others are unable to deal with the pain and often times anxiety that the pain can bring. Luckily for these women, medicine has evolved and the option for significant pain relief is available. The question raised when providing this option is, are there negative effects of receiving an epidural too early or late in the process.

Pediatric pain management is measured subjectively because it is based off of what the patient says or how the nurse interprets the pain scale. Pain is rated using different scales, unfortunately these different scales could yield different results. Nurses are trained to use pediatric pain scales to analyze and treat pain but parents are not supplied with the tools to manage pain when the patient goes home. With 84% of all pediatric surgical procedures performed on an outpatient basis, the importance of teaching parents how to assess for and manage pain has become more important than ever (Rony, Fortier, Chorney, Perret, & Kain, 2010). According to Rony’s et al. (2010) study, it is apparent that pediatric pain is not being treated effectively. The study showed that 58.8% of children were receiving less than the daily recommended does prescribed by the pediatrician (p.1). Results of the study also showed that parents had false assessments on if their child was actually in pain. 36% of parents believed that if their child was in pain, they would cry out for the parent , 30% agreed that their child would always tell them if they are in pain, while 22% said that the child would report their pain immediately (Rony, Fortier, Chorney, Perret, & Kain, 2010, ). Children do not always verbalize when they are in pain. Sometimes the pain can be so intense that a child is unable to talk. If the child catches on to the parents negative perception of pain medications, the child may not

Pharmacological comfort measures can provide partial or complete pain relief. The epidural is the most efficient way of reducing labor pain. Opioids can be given continuously or in intermittent doses at the patient 's request or through the patient controlled pump. There is the potential for these drugs to have some effect on the fetus, such as breathing difficulties that may require assistance through the use of Narcan. Providing pain relief during the labor process is solely the patient’s choice, and as the nurse only support and encouragement should be given for however she chooses to handle the pain. (Jansen, Gibson, Bowles, & Leach, 2013)

Childbirth is a beautiful thing. After the hours of labor, there is nothing more special than having the newly mother able to hold her child the minute after it’s born. It makes the pain that you had just experienced go away because all that matters in the world is that newborn child in your arms. During labor, every woman has her own experience but one common experience is the pain. According to Kitzinger (1978) “Labor pain can have negative or positive meaning, depending on whether the child is wanted, the interaction of the laboring woman with those attending her, her sense of ease or dis-ease in the environment provided for birth, her relationship with the father of her child and her attitude to her body throughout the reproductive

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the different forms of pain management used during childbirth.