Facilitated tucking on pain in pre-term newborns during neonatal intensive care: a single blinded randomized controlled cross-over pilot trial

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the effect of facilitated tucking (FT) on pain in preterm newborns during heel stick procedure done as a part of neonatal intensive care.

Methods: This randomized controlled cross-over pilot study included 20 preterm newborns of both sexes between gestational ages (GA) of 28 and 36 weeks based upon the eligibility criteria. Pain was measured using Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) following both heel stick with FT and without FT.

Results: The newborns had a lower PIPP score at 30 seconds (Mean, SD: 8.80, 3.82), 60 seconds (Mean, SD: 7.55, 3.28), 90 seconds (Mean, SD: 7.25, 3.06) and 120 seconds (Mean, SD: 6.65, 3.05) when heel stick was done with FT compared to the same procedure done without FT at 30 seconds (Mean, SD: 11.20, 3.44), 60 seconds (Mean, SD: 10.75, 3.24), 90 seconds (Mean, SD: 10.60, 3.22) and 120 seconds (Mean, SD: 10.50, 3.15). A (2 X 4) factorial ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference between these two procedures in all the time periods viz., 30 seconds (p=0.044), 60 seconds (p=0.004), 90 seconds (p=0.002) and 120 seconds (p< 0.0001) at 0.05 level in PIPP score and favoring FT.

Conclusion: FT is an effective non-pharmacological pain management in preterm newborns during routine neonatal intensive care.