Neonatal Pain and Stress

Ameliorating human suffering is a laudable goal in medicine. Despite advances in care, neonatal patients continue to endure pain, discomfort, and stress. Assessing, managing, and limiting this suffering, particularly while caring for critically ill neonates, remain challenging goals. Fortunately, considerable clinical and laboratory research coupled with clinical dialogue and parental advocacy continue to steer neonatal providers toward best clinical practices in this problematic arena. This chapter summarizes relevant policy statements as well as clinical and basic research regarding assessment tools. The chapter then discusses the nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic management of neonatal pain and stress before highlighting future directions in this field.