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

AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine feelings, pain-related knowledge, and pain management-related practices 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-depth interviews were conducted with nurses by using the interview form with semi-structured open-ended questions. 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 limitedly identify the pain-induced physiological and behavioral symptoms in newborns, could not evaluate the symptoms and levels of pain by using pain scales with proven validity and reliability. The results indicated that the nurses provided the care based on their observations rather than evidence-based knowledge in the pain management. CONCLUSION: Nurses should be informed through evidence-based training programs and supported to transfer the acquired knowledge into practice. And the results emphasizes that the subject of pain and pain management should be inserted in nursing education cirruculum.