MELBOURNE, Jul 17, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Doctors are finding ways to reduce
the agony for infants undergoing painful procedures such as heel lances to draw
blood, Australian researchers said.
Studies have shown poorly managed pain in infants can have immediate and
long-term physiological and behavioral effects, Australian researchers wrote in
the Journal of Pain.
As a result, pediatric researchers have recommended reducing the number of
painful procedures routinely administered, giving oral sucrose before and during
minor painful procedures, and using pre-emptive opioid analgesia before
endotracheal intubation.
The researchers reviewed more than 3,600 minor procedures performed on 55
infants. Of those, 7 in 10 were heel lances in which analgesics were
infrequently used or not at all, the researchers found.
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