Poster Presentation
Friday, 21 July 2006
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Friday, 21 July 2006
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Effect of Eye Goggles and Earmuffs on the Physiological Stability and Pain Response of Preterm Neonates
Marilyn Aita, MSc and C. Celeste Johnston, RN, DEd. School of Nursing, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to understand the importance of minimizing the exposure of preterm neonates to light, noise and pain in the neonatal unit. |
| Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to get knowledge about the effectiveness of an intervention minimizing exposure of preterm neonates to light, noise and pain. |
Environmental light and noise in the neonatal unit are identified as major sources of stimulation creating physiological instability in preterm neonates. Growing theoretical knowledge also reveals that non-painful sensory stimulations may affect pain response of neonates, further supporting the importance of limiting their exposure to light and noise in the neonatal unit.
The objectives of this study are to: a) evaluate the physiological stability of 28 to 32 weeks post-conceptional age neonates wearing eye goggles and earmuffs for a 4-hr period; b) evaluate pain response of 28 to 32 weeks neonates during a heel lance following a 4-hr period wearing eye goggles and earmuffs.
A prospective crossover experimental design where neonates serve as their own control group is use to evaluate the effect of the intervention. The neonates are randomly assigned to the group sequences and a period around 20 hrs is allocated between the sequences to allow a wash-out of the intervention.
Data are collected in 3 university-affiliated hospitals in Montreal. A convenient sample of 80 preterm neonates is targeted and until now 38 have been participating in the study. The physiological stability is measured by the variation of heart rate, oxygen saturation, and vagal tone over the study sequences. The SNAP and NTISS are also used to obtain a physiological severity score. The pain response is measured by the variation of mean heart rate, oxygen saturation, and vagal tone over the heel lancing procedure. The findings will follow the completion of data collection in progress. Results should be available at the time of the conference. The intervention effect will be analyzed using MANCOVA.
This research contributes to the body of knowledge in neonatal care by evaluating an innovative intervention that can be performed by neonatal nurses and that has the objective of reducing the stress and pain response in preterm neonates.
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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)