Parents' perspectives on their baby's pain management in a surgical neonatal intensive care unit: The parents' awareness and involvement in pain management (PAIN-PAM) study - Part 2

Parents' whose babies underwent surgery, completed five days of stay in the surgical neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and were literate in English, participated in this exploratory cohort study. Parents provided written responses to two open-ended questions relating to their baby's pain management. Thematic analysis of data from 52 parents revealed four major themes: Information Resources; Communication Practices; Barriers to Parental Role; and Staff Appreciation. The majority of parents wanted information provided in different formats about how to recognise their babies' pain and how to comfort their babies in addition to discussions with clinicians. They also wanted the choice to stay with their baby during painful procedures. A barrier to this was COVID-19 restrictions. Twenty-nine percent of parents responded that no additional resources were required. The findings highlight the need to improve parent-focussed resources and clinician education to better inform and support parents' involvement in managing their babies' pain in the surgical NICU.