Introduction: Newborns face painful experiences shortly after birth.
Every newborn has the right to relieve the pain, which is also in the case with a single cause of pain during taking blood for screening tests.
Purpose: We study and describe the possibilities of non-pharmacological pain relief in acute causing pain to newborns while taking blood for neonatal screening tests. With an empirical study, we wanted to explore the stage or implementation of pain relief for newborns in post-natal departments around Slovenia.
Methods: In the diploma we use the methodology of a systematic review of scientific and technical literature. We also did a quantitative research with surveying employees in post-natal departments in Slovenian hospitals. We gained the data with a structured questionnaire.
Quantitative processing and statistical analysis were carried out using the SPSS 21 computer program. We sent 137 surveys of which we received back 130 correctly fulfilled. The participation rate was 95%.
Results: In Slovenia, blood for neonatal screening tests is mostly taken from the heel of the newborns (75.4%). The method for relieving the pain of the newborns is used by 62.3% of the surveyed healthcare professionals in Ljubljana, Maribor, Slovenj Gradec, Jesenice in Ptuj.
The most common used methods are the presence of the mother, the "conversation" to the mother with a newborn (42%), glucose per os and soother (32%), wrapping babies in the blanket (19%), breastfeeding and skin contact with the mother (5%). Music as a method of reducing the pain is not used in any postpartum section. In Brežice, Novo mesto, Kranj, Izola and Murska Sobota no methods are used to relieve pain.
Discussion and Conclusion: Health personnel in Slovenia mostly use blood samples for neonatal screening tests from the newborn's heel. More than half of healthcare professionals use at least one of the non-pharmacological methods to relieve pain. The interest of healthcare personnel to introduce or extend the use of non-pharmacological agents to relieve newborns pain during blood transfusion should be further investigated.
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