Infant Pain Assessment: A Quality Improvement Project in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Northeast Florida

Pain assessment is the cornerstone of pain management. This article discusses the quality improvement project of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) interdisciplinary Evidence-Based Practice Committee of a level III NICU in Northeast Florida whose goal was to determine best practice for pain assessment. The problem addressed in this project was to determine if the current pain assessment tool used in the NICU was the most appropriate choice for the patient population. Six Sigma methodologies were used as the framework to guide the project. The project included a comparison study regarding the clinical utility of two infant pain assessment tools: the Premature Infant Pain Profile and the Neonatal, Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale. The results showed no statistically significant difference. The recommendation of the Neonatal, Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale as best practice infant pain assessment tool was based on its comprehensiveness in infant assessment and not on clinical utility.