Re: preemie-l Meds/Pavulon
Helen1144@aol.com
Sun, 2 Jun 1996 23:01:39 -0400
Dear Maureen,
It's good that you were assertive about pain meds. Many parents assume that
the MDs know what they are doing in this regard and that their baby's pain is
being treated. However, pain control practices vary widely from one hospital
to the next and from one physician to the next. All of these different
approaches can't be right.
Although pain control is being taken more seriously now than it was only a
few years ago, there is still a lot of pain in neonates that is not being
treated. A recent survey of pain control practices in 109 NICUs in the US
found that in any given week over 70% of the babies in the unit receive no
pain relieving drugs whatsoever, not even a single dose of tylenol. (Imagine
what would happen if the same situation existed in an adult intensive care
unit!) Another study by the same researchers indicated that serious
post-operative pain in preemies is still going untreated or undertreated.
(Anand et al. "A prospective survey of postoperative analgesic practices in
neonates" and "Routine analgesic practices in 109 neonatal intensive care
units." Pediatric Research, April 1996, Vol 39, pp 191A-192A)
Parents need to know this and need to know that there is good research to
support the importance of pain relief for preemies, not only because it
improves outcomes but because it is the humane thing to do. Too often
parents (myself included) have allowed the medical authorities to overrule
our natural parental instincts, only to find out later that our natural
instincts were correct all along..
You were wise to speak up when you saw your babies were in pain. We need to
encourage other parents to do the same.
Best regards,
Helen