What do Neonatal Nurses Know and Feel About Pain Management During Retinopathy of Prematurity Examination: A Qualitative Research

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine feelings, pain-related knowledge, and pain managementrelatedpractices of neonatal intensive care nurses during the retinopathy of prematurity examination.Method: The descriptive qualitative research design was used. In the study, the individual in-depthinterviews were conducted with nurses by using the interview form with semi-structured open-endedquestions. The data were evaluated by using the MAXQDA12.Results: Two main themes were formed as “neonatal pain” and “retinopathy of prematurity examination”in line with the thematic analysis. In the study, it was determined that the nurses were able to limitedlyidentify the pain-induced physiological and behavioral symptoms in newborns, could not evaluate thesymptoms and levels of pain by using pain scales with proven validity and reliability. The results indicatedthat the nurses provided the care based on their observations rather than evidence-based knowledge inthe pain management.Conclusion: Nurses should be informed through evidence-based training programs and supported totransfer the acquired knowledge into practice. And the results emphasizes that the subject of pain andpain management should be inserted in nursing education cirruculum.