Behavioral and Physiological Signs of Pain in Newborn in Bandar Abbas

To protect the safety of newborns after birth, they have to endure the pain caused by painful procedures. Pain is the destructive experience and have complications immediate, short-and long-term on physical and mental health of newborn. Regular monitoring of pain in newborns from beginning of birth to face the painful invasive procedures, is necessary. This study aimed to determine the behavioral and physiological signs of pain in newborns after birth in Bandar Abbas.
In this descriptive study, behavioral and physiological signs of pain caused by injection of vitamin K and injectable vaccines examined at birth in 75 infants born in Bandar-Abbas Hospitals in 2012. Newborns were selected using convenience sampling method. Pain was assessed using the Neonate-Infant pain scale (NIPS) and observation checklist of behavior. Analyzing the data was done by using descriptive statistics, -t-test were used. Version of SPSS 20 software and. The significance level was less than 0.05 and acceptable.
The findings showed that were 44 (58.7%) male and 31 (41.3%) female newborns. Mean weight was 3020.47 ± 447.93 gram and mean neonatal pain score was 5.85 ± 1.84. Among the behavioral signs, change in breathing patern with 86.7% and crying with 81.3% and among the physiological sign, facial flushing with 85.3% were the highest rate. Also mean heart and respiratory rate during the procedure had significant increase compared to the previous ones (p Pain is indicated in newborns in response to invasive procedures mostly through behavioral signs, but few manifest of the physiological signs, are not reason for the pain absence. So nurses can without need of any sophisticated instrument, using a combination of behavioral and psychological signs identifying and controling the inevitable pain of painful procedures in newborns