Knowledge of the nursing team about the newborn’s pain

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To describe the knowledge of the nursing team about the evaluation and treatment of pain in newborns hospitalized at the Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit of a university hospital in the state of Minas Gerais, due to the relevance of the issue regarding the quality of the neonatal care. METHODS: A descriptive and exploratory qualitative research with 13 professionals from a Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview, and the data analysis was guided by the Content Thematic Analysis from January to June 2018. RESULTS: Four categories were elaborated: pain identification; methods for assessing pain; interventions of the nursing team to relieve pain, and nursing learnings in pain management. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of this team is based on the individual experience, showing the need for changes in the educational structures to reach better results and nursing practices based on scientific methods for quality assistance.