HealthDay News — In-hospital postnatal education about infant pain management at vaccinations leads to more frequent use of pain relief interventions, according to a study published online Oct. 22 in CMAJ, the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Anna Taddio, PhD, from the University of Toronto, and colleagues randomly assigned new mothers to 1 of 3 intervention groups (control [general immunization information], pain pamphlet [general immunization plus pain mitigation information], and pain pamphlet and pain video [general immunization plus pain mitigation information]) and 3 follow-up groups (2-, 4-, and 6-month infant vaccinations). During telephone surveys, mothers reported use of breastfeeding, sucrose, and topical anesthetics during infant vaccinations.
Based on follow-up data from 2549 participants, the researchers found that utilization of any intervention (breastfeeding, sucrose, or topical anesthetics) was 53.2% for the control group, 61.4% for the pamphlet group, and 63% for the pamphlet and video group. Both pain education groups had higher utilization than the control group, but they had similar utilization to one another. Uptake differed by group at 2 and 4 months but not at 6 months.
“Hospital-based postnatal education increased parental use of pain interventions at infant vaccinations and can be added to existing education,” conclude the authors.
Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
