Nurses Knowledge about Physiological and Behavioral Pain Indicators of Newborn in Port-Said

Background: Newborns treated in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are exposure to a variety of painful procedures. Unrelieved pain in newborns may lead to potential long term physiological and behavioral consequences. Nurses in NICU have a professional and ethical accountability to have knowledge about assessment and treatment of pain in newborns. The Aim of this Study: Was to investigate nurses knowledge about physiological and behavioral pain indicators of newborn. The present study was a descriptive study. The study included all nurses working in the intensive care units for newborns in Port Said Hospitals (N=70). The data were collected using a Nurses Pain Knowledge Structured Questionnaire Sheet. The results of this study indicated that; the majority of the nurses had lack of knowledge about physiological and behavioral indicators of pain in newborn. Moreover; no statistical significant differences were found between nurses’ knowledge scores about pain in newborns and their age, their level of education or their experience in neonatal intensive units. It is recommended that nurses who cares for newborns should be familiar with and trained to assess pain of newborns through in service-training programs and nurses must be encourage to attend national, international conferences and workshops about pain assessment and management of newborns.