Nonpharmacological Methods in Heel Stick Pain

Heel prick, intervention performed to take blood sample from the heel, which is frequently performed in newborns, is a more painful intervention than are other methods of taking blood samples. In several studies, it has been indicated that the use of various non-pharmacological methods such as sucrose administration, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin care, acupressure, swaddling, positioning, non-nutritive sucking, foot reflexology, vibration, laser acupuncture, warming the baby's heel reduce infants' pain during heel prick.

This study is a prospective, randomized and controlled trial. In this study aim, was aimed at determining the effects of two different heel warming methods (warming with a thermophore heating pad and warming with a warm towel) performed before heel prick on healthy term newborns' pain levels and duration of cryingin newborns will be examined.

The minimum number of newborns to be included in the study was calculated as 150 using the G*Power (3.1. 9.7) program (margin of error: 5%, confidence interval: 0.95, power: 0.80). The 150 newborns in the sample were randomly assigned into the following three groups in equal numbers via an internet-based program (http://www.randomizer.org): control group (n = 50), thermophore-warming group (n = 47) and warm towel-warming group (n = 50).

Data Collection Tools To collect the study data, the "Descriptive Information Form", "Follow-up Form", and "Neonatal Infant Pain Scale" were used.

Inclusion criteria

• Having been born at 38-42 weeks of gestation,
• having a birth weight of 2500 g and above,
• having a 5-min APGAR score of 7 and above,
• having stable health,
• having been fed within an hour before the intervention, being calm and not crying before the intervention,
• having a postnatal age of 24-72 hours, and
• undergoing heel prick for the first time

Exclusion criteria

• Parents with any mental problems
• Infants with any chronic disease and congenital anomalies.