The Effect of Vanilla Extract on the Comfort Level of Neonates When Taking Venous Blood

Taking venous blood in neonates can be challenging. The discomfort felt when taking blood can cause difficulties or even failure in carrying out the procedure, so that the venous blood collection must be repeated in another collection area. The repetition of the procedure has a negative impact on neonates, such as impaired psychological aspects and behavioral development. Vanilla extract has a similar aroma as the mother’s breast milk and so it was hypothesized that it could help provide comfort for neonates. This study described the characteristics of newborns, classified the degree of their disease, then determined the comfort level and pain level after taking venous blood. This cross-sectional study of 36 hospitalized neonates took place from October 1st – November 28th, 2020, in the perinatology room of University of Muhammadiyah Malang Hospital. The characteristics data were collected from the nursing charts, the level of pain was analyzed based on the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale and the comfort level was determined using a comfort scale. More than half of the newborns (64%) were one day old, and 19 newborns were female. The most severe level of disease was categorized as level 1 (28 newborns) which was diagnosed as premature rupture of membranes and umbilical cord infection. The level of pain identified in the 36 neonates had an average value of 4.94 ± 0.71. The average level of comfort in neonates when taking venous blood was 22.5 ± 3.41. Keywords: comfort, pain, vanilla, newborn