Conhecimento dos profissionais de enfermagem na avaliação da dor neonatal em uma unidade de terapia intensiva

Objectives: To evaluate nursing professionals' knowledge about the management and correct evaluation of pain in a neonatal unit, in order to make the care more humanized and to make the team aware of the importance of pain. Methods: Qualitative descriptive research. Initially a questionnaire on pain was applied. The responses of the questionnaire were established in 5 categories by content analysis. Subsequently a training was conducted through conversation wheels to make the nursing team apt to evaluate the pain correctly. Results: Pain continues to be a subject that is still little discussed in clinical practice, in addition to the low knowledge by the majority of professionals about specific neonatal pain assessment parameters. However, in practice, the professionals showed knowledge in identifying the pain and intervening with prevention measures for their relief. Conclusion: The application of the questionnaire allowed to evaluate the knowledge of the team on the subject and thus to work according to the real needs demonstrated. Through training, it was also possible to train the team to identify pain correctly and, consequently, to take measures for their relief, thus making health care more qualified and humane.