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Management of pain in the newborn infant
Author(s) -
COLDITZ P. B.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1991.tb00338.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pain management , intensive care medicine , analgesic , intensive care , sick child , pediatrics , anesthesia
The importance of providing adequate analgesia for children in pain was highlighted by a recent annotation in this journal. 1 Newborn infants as well as children fare better after surgery if adequate analgesia is provided. 2 The sick newborn infant who has not had surgery but who is receiving assisted ventilation and multiple invasive procedures may also fare better with analgesia, but this topic has received little attention despite the large number of babies who receive this treatment in newborn intensive care units. This manuscript reviews the evidence of what constitutes a ‘painful’ stimulus to a newborn infant and details options for analgesic treatment. Some issues are raised that may dictate the direction of necessary future research.