Minimising infant pain has become a significant concern worldwide. However, in Oman neonatal pain management strategies and protocols vary considerably among neonatal healthcare professionals and between neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and they are not evidence based (EB). Moreover, there are no neonatal pain assessment tools to help staff detect and learn how to manage pain. The guidelines of care in Oman are frequently outdated, and not standardised. Moreover, they tend to be irrelevant to neonates, particularly for neonatal pain management because they are focused on the needs of adult patients. This study used an ethnographic approach to explore how nurses’ approach and interact with babies being cared for in a NICU in Oman, with a particular focus on pain. There have been very few qualitative studies of NICU nursing that have focused on neonatal pain.

Minimising infant pain has become a significant concern worldwide. However, in Oman neonatal pain management strategies and protocols vary considerably among neonatal healthcare professionals and between neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and they are not evidence based (EB). Moreover, there ...