Soft tissue therapy in managing procedural pain among neonates admitted in Neonatal intensive care unit: A single group pretest posttest quasi-experimental study.

Background -Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a specialized nursery in a hospital that provides care to sick or premature babies. It has health care providers who have special training and equipment to give neonates the best possible care. During NICU stay neonates undergo various routine examination procedures which are performed to check the prognosis. The most common procedures performed are blood drawing procedures which develops acute stress in neonates. Soft tissue therapy is a non pharmacological method for reducing the stress and pain in neonates. There is no evidence of managing neonatal procedural pain with soft tissue therapy. Purpose - To determine the effect of soft tissue therapy in managing the stressful and painful effects of various procedures in neonates admitted in neonatal intensive care unit. Methods - The study is single group pretest posttest quasi experimental study. the participants included in study with age group 0 to 28 days. The neonates who underwent various painful procedures are to be included in the study. These procedures can be various blood drawing procedures, mechanical intubation, removal of adhesive tapes etc. The samples are taken by convenience sampling and neonates with unstable vital signs are excluded from the study. The techniques like stroking, effleurage, kneading, rolling manipulations are used in soft tissue therapy application. Discussion - There are less evidence regarding managing procedural pain with soft tissue therapy. For managing the stressful effects and reducing the effects of acute pain soft tissue therapy techniques are used