Pain assessment during blood collection from sedated and mechanically ventilated children.

Objective: This study assessed pain and observed physiological parameters in sedated and mechanically ventilated children during a routine procedure.

Methods: This observational study was performed in a pediatric intensive care unit. Thirty-five children between 1 month and 12 years of age were assessed before, during, and five minutes after an arterial blood collection for gas analysis (painful procedure). Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability scale was used to assess pain. In addition, patients' heart rate, respiratory rate, peripheral saturation of oxygen and blood pressure (diastolic and systolic) were recorded. COMFORT-B scale was applied before the pain and physiological parameter assessments to verify sedation level of the subjects.

Results: There was an increase in Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability score (p = 0.0001) during painful stimuli. There was an increase in heart rate (p = 0.03), respiratory rate (p = 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.006) due to pain caused by the routine procedure.

Conclusions: This study suggests that assessments of pain using standard scales, such as Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability score, and other physiological parameters should be consistently executed to optimize pain management in pediatric intensive care units.