Skin-to-Skin Contact as pain management intervention during clustered painful procedures in healthy full-term neonates.

Pain in neonates is substantiated, and its detrimental effects are established. Healthy full-term neonates must undergo several painful procedures (injections, heel-sticks, and circumcisions) before hospital discharge, thus, pain management interventions are essential. One intervention is Skin-to-Skin Contact (SSC). This study aims to test the effect of SSC on physiologic and behavioral pain responses during and after clustered painful procedures in full-term neonates. This pilot randomized controlled trial included sixteen full-term neonates who were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (being with the mother in SSC before (10-15 minutes), during (heel sticks and injection), and after (20 minutes) the procedures) or the control group (the neonate were in the crib in the nursery before (10-15 minutes), during (heel sticks and injection), and after (20 minutes) the procedures). A pulse oximeter was attached to the neonate’s hand or foot to measure Heart Rate and Oxygen Saturation. A video camera was set up to record the whole procedure. Video tapes were viewed and Behavioral States were recorded using Anderson Behavioral State Scoring system. One staff nurse administered all painful procedures. Descriptive tests will be completed to provide a description of the sample. Repeated measures analysis of variance and t-test will be used to investigate differences in the Heart Rate, Oxygen Saturation, and Behavioral State. The results of this study could provide some evidence on the effectiveness of SSC during clustered painful procedures. Learner’s objectives: 1. The learner will gain knowledge about the effectiveness of SSC on neonate’s physiologic responses to clustered painful procedures. 2. The learner will gain knowledge about the effectiveness of SSC on neonate’s behavioral state responses to clustered painful procedures.