The effect of combined use of nonnutritive sucking and sucrose on cardio-respiratory indices and pain behaviors during blood drawing-phlebotomy procedures in preterm infants undergoing intensive care

Aim and The majority of neonates admitted to intensive care units are preterm and undergoing painful procedures including blood draw and phlebotomy. Ignoring the pain of these procedures on preterm infants can cause some problems in cardio-respiratory indices such as changes in respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation.So using of non-pharmacological pain management methods as nonnutritive sucking,can impede transferring the pain impulse to the brain and relief of pain based on gate control theory.The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of combined use of nonnutritive sucking and sucrose on cardio-respiratory indices and pain behaviors during blood drawing-phlebotomy in preterm infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Methods and Materials:This study was performed in a quasi-experimental method with two groups of nonnutritive sucking with sucrose 24% and control in three stages.The study performed on 52 preterm infants(26 per group) who randomly divided in two groups.The neonatal specific pain assessment tool and intensive care monitor system used to determine the pain and cardio-respiratory indices of preterm infants.
Findings:The mean pain score in preterm infants were the same in two groups within 5minutes before intervention(p>0.05). However,the mean pain score showed a significant difference during and 5minutes after blood drawing-phlebotomy procedures among two groups(p0.05) by using the independent t-test.
The results of this study indicate that combination of nonnutritive sucking with sucrose result in pain relief in preterm infants during and after blood drawing-phlebotomy procedures.