Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Oral Presentation/Poster

Degree Name

Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

Department

Health Science

Faculty Mentor

Megan Johnke

Keywords

Neonate, Nonpharmacological Pain Management, Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS), Procedural Pain, Occupational Therapy

Subject Categories

Occupational Therapy

Abstract

The aim of this project was to increase clinical skills in a level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and explore how nonpharmacological occupational therapy (OT) interventions impact pain management in the NICU for a variety of patients. Due to the increasing rates of admissions to the NICU and the impact that pain has on child development there was a clear need to gain skills to create interventions that would minimize the effect on infant development (Martin & Osterman, 2025; Pineda et al., 2025). The needs assessment revealed the need for occupational therapists (OTs) role in nonpharmacological pain management to increase across all patients in particular a protocol was needed for OTs treating neonates with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). Nine deliverables were created to address the project and the needs of the site by addressing clinical competency in the NICU and implementing interventions specifically for ones that address pain two more deliverables were added through the course of the capstone. Four neonates were selected to have heel stick procedures with two neonates receiving 10 minutes of infant massage prior to the procedure, and the other two did not. Their pain response was found using the neonatal pain scale (NIPS). The researcher found that the intervention group's Mean score was lower (M=2.5, SD=.71, N=) than the control group (M=4, SD=1.4, N=).The use of OT in treatment requires more research to understand its impact; however, it did impact the pain scores in the sample size and treatment in the case study.

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