Comparison of Different Methods for Reducing Pain in Heel Blood in Newborns

April 2, 2023 updated by: Kutahya Health Sciences University

Newborns are exposed to painful invasive procedures from the first hours of their lives. It is stated that the functional and anatomical structure of the neural pathways of newborns with many systems immature develops well enough to feel pain and they have the ability to remember after experiencing pain. Physiological symptoms (increase in heart rate and blood pressure, increase in oxygen saturation, etc.) as a result of painful procedures (vascular or heel lance collection, venous or arterial catheterization, subcutaneous and intramuscular injection, chest tube insertion, intubation, aspiration, etc.) applied for diagnosis and treatment in newborns. falling), crying behavior and metabolic problems. In conclusion, the energy resources required for the growth and development of newborns are used to cope with pain, and it is reported that repetitive painful procedures increase mortality and morbidity in newborns.

Heel lance, which is applied to all newborns within the scope of the newborn screening program, is one of the painful invasive procedures for newborns. Heel lance should be taken as capillaries in the first 48 hours after feeding or until the first week of life of newborns. In the literature, non-pharmacological methods applied to reduce the severity of pain felt by newborns during heel lance, which also causes tissue integrity deterioration; It has been observed that studies examining the effects of breast milk, swaddling, holding, breastfeeding, music, oral sucrose, non-nutritive sucking, skin-to-skin contact (SSC) and positioning. SSC, breastfeeding and swaddling + holding methods are among the methods that can be easily used by mothers and nurses. Nurses working in the maternity ward where heel lance sampling is performed in the hospital have a key role in reducing the pain level of newborns by collaborating with the families of the babies.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

This study was conducted to compare three different methods (breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, swaddling + holding) in reducing the pain felt during routine heel lance from term newborns within the scope of the National "Newborn Screening Program" of the Ministry of Health.

Hypotheses; H1: Breastfeeding method is more effective than skin-to-skin contact and swaddling + holding methods in reducing pain due to heel lance in newborns.

H2: Skin-to-skin contact method is more effective than breastfeeding and swaddling + holding methods in reducing pain due to heel lance collection in newborns.

H3: Swaddling + holding method is more effective than breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact methods in reducing the pain associated with heel lance collection in newborns.

Statistical power analysis was performed at the end of the study in line with the data collected from a total of 90 newborns, 30 of whom were in each study group. The power of the study was found to be 0.81 - 0.99 at the alpha = 0.05 significance level, and the effect size was between 0.02 and 0.68.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

90

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Kutahya, Turkey
        • Kutahya Health Sciences University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

1 day to 1 day (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Newborns (0-28days);

  • Being born at term (38 - 42 weeks)
  • Stable vital signs
  • Having completed the first 24 hours of life and being fed
  • Heel blood procedure will be applied for the Ministry of Health screening.
  • Not being breastfed 30 minutes before the procedure
  • No previous invasive intervention other than vitamin K and hepatitis B vaccine.
  • 1st and 5th minute Apgar score ≥7
  • Parents have given written consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

Newborns (0-28days);

  • Unstable vital signs
  • Being bottle-fed or formula-fed
  • Having a neurological diagnosis
  • Prior exposure to another invasive procedure other than vitamin K and hepatitis B vaccine.
  • Maternal use of opioids,
  • Not being born at term.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: breastfeeding
The mother was allowed to sit comfortably in the patient's room, the pulse oximeter probe was attached to the left foot of the newborn, and the newborn, who was placed on the mother's lap, was breastfeeding for 5 minutes before the heel lance, and breastfeeding was continued during the procedure.

The NIPS (Neonatal Infant Pain Scale) pain score, heart rate and oxygen saturation of the newborn were recorded by the researcher in the study group, 2 minutes before the heel lance, 10 seconds during the heel lance, and 2 minutes after the heel lance was completed.

In order to determine the crying time of newborns in all three study groups, the voice recorder and stopwatch were turned on two minutes before and 2 minutes after the heel lance.

Active Comparator: skin to skin contact
The newborn's clothes were removed so that only the diaper and baby hat were left, and a pulse oximeter probe was attached to his left foot. The newborn was placed on the mother's bare chest between her two breasts, facing the mother's face, with her head up, in the prone position, covered with a baby blanket, and skin-to-skin contact was made between the mother and the newborn for at least 5 minutes before starting the heel lance procedure.

The NIPS (Neonatal Infant Pain Scale) pain score, heart rate and oxygen saturation of the newborn were recorded by the researcher in the study group, 2 minutes before the heel lance, 10 seconds during the heel lance, and 2 minutes after the heel lance was completed.

In order to determine the crying time of newborns in all three study groups, the voice recorder and stopwatch were turned on two minutes before and 2 minutes after the heel lance.

Active Comparator: swaddling and holding
A pulse oximeter probe was attached to the newborn's left foot, and the legs were in flexion and abduction position, wrapped with a square cloth blanket and placed on his mother's lap. It was ensured that the newborn was held in the mother's lap with his head up and feet down for 5 minutes before heel lance.

The NIPS (Neonatal Infant Pain Scale) pain score, heart rate and oxygen saturation of the newborn were recorded by the researcher in the study group, 2 minutes before the heel lance, 10 seconds during the heel lance, and 2 minutes after the heel lance was completed.

In order to determine the crying time of newborns in all three study groups, the voice recorder and stopwatch were turned on two minutes before and 2 minutes after the heel lance.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Determination of pain scores according to measurement times; before the heel lance procedure, the newborn was 5 minutes after breastfeeding, swaddling and holding, skin-to-skin contact.
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 6 month

Neonatal Infant Pain Scale pain score of the newborn were recorded by the researcher in the breastfeeding, swaddling and holding, skin-to skin-contact groups, 2 minutes before the heel lance, 10 seconds during the heel lance, and 2 minutes after the heel lance was completed.

The lowest score obtained from the scale is 0, and the highest score is 7. A high scale score indicates a high level of pain in the newborn. The scoring of Neonatal Infant Pain Scale ranges from 0-7 points and 0-2 points indicate no pain, 3-4 points indicate moderate pain, >4 points indicate high levels of pain.

through study completion, an average of 6 month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 18, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

May 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 21, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

April 4, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 4, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 2, 2023

Last Verified

December 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Nursing12345

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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