Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Jun 12;2(2):33-39.
doi: 10.1002/pne2.12020. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Neonatal pain: A journey spanning three decades

Céleste Johnston  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Neonatal pain: A journey spanning three decades

Céleste Johnston. Paediatr Neonatal Pain. .

Abstract

From 1980 into present day, 2020, the evolution of neonatal pain research is told as a journey by one researcher, Celeste Johnston. At the beginning of her work, there was essentially no interest or work in the area. She was fortunate to be led into the area by a clinical problem: how to determine the amount of pain babies in the NICU were experiencing. That question resulted in over three decades of work with neonates. Measuring pain was the first challenge and is one that remains a focus of current research. Initially, the only choices for treating pain in neonates were either opioids or anesthetics, each with problems. Research on sweet taste and more recently on skin-to-skin contact has offered effective and safe options for procedural pain. Although progress has been made in the incidence of pain management in infants, it still is far less than it could be. Steps along the way of measurement, treatment, and knowledge utilization are chronicled by this researcher.

Keywords: animal models of pain; measurement of pain; neonates; non-pharmacological management of pain; pain.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Johnston CC, Collinge J. A nursing research committee within an acute care setting: its inception and development. Nurs Pap. 1982;14(2):2‐12. - PubMed
    1. Owens ME, Todt EH. Pain in infancy: neonatal reaction to heel lance. Pain. 1984;20:77‐86. - PubMed
    1. Johnston CC, Strada ME. Acute pain responses in infants: a multidimensional description. Pain. 1986;24:373‐382. - PubMed
    1. Johnston CC, O'Shaughnessy D. Acoustical attributes of pain cries: distinguishing features. In: Dubner R, Gebbart GF, Bond MR (Eds.), Advances in Pain Research and Therapy. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1988:336‐340.
    1. Petroni M, Malowany AS, Johnston CC, Stevens BJ. A new, robust vocal fundamental frequency (Fo) determination method for the analysis of infant cries. In: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual IEEE Symposium on Computer‐based Medical Systems; 1994:223‐228.