The Impact of Kangaroo Care On Pain in Term Newborns Receiving Intramuscular Injections
Title: The Impact of Kangaroo Care On Pain in Term Newborns Receiving Intramuscular Injections
- Describe the impact that Kangaroo Care has on cry time and Newborn Infant Pain Scale scores during a minor painful procedure.
- Utilize Comfort Theory to examine the impact that Kangaroo Care has on nursing satisfaction and institutional integrity.
- Identify the benefits of utilizing Kangaroo Care during minor painful procedures to reinforce the mother-infant bond.
Design: Single blinded, randomized controlled trial.
Setting: Inpatient labor and delivery unit of a 132 bed community-based hospital.
Sample: One hundred and sixty term, well newborns, ≤ 2 hours of age.
Methods: Newborns were randomly assigned to receive vitamin K intramuscular (IM) injections either with Kangaroo Care (KC) or while under a radiant warmer. Data was collected at baseline and at assigned intervals for two minutes following the injection. Newborn pain was assessed using the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) and duration of crying.
Results: NIPS scores for the intervention group were significantly less than the control group at all intervals during the two-minute data collection period. NIPS scores were reduced overall by 31 percent. NIPS scores decreased by 12 percent immediately after the injection, 25 percent at thirty seconds, 50 percent at one minute, and 67 percent at two minutes. These individual data collection intervals indicate, that when compared to the control group, infants receiving KC experience less pain overall and their pain decrease more quickly over the 2 minute data collection period. Cry time also demonstrated the beneficial effects of KC care, with total cry time 24 percent less for the intervention group.
Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice: Kangaroo Care significantly decreases newborn pain and duration of crying during IM injections; it is well received by mothers; provides numerous benefits to the mother-infant dyad and has no know adverse effects.
Keywords: Kangaroo Care, Skin-to-skin, Intramuscular Injection, Vitamin K, Pain, Newborns, Neonates, Term.