OBJECTIVES:
to identify the effects of respiratory physiotherapy techniques (RPTs) on pain and cardiorespiratory functioning in clinically stable newborns, in a neonatal intensive care unit.
METHODS:
a blind randomized clinical assay was carried out. The newborns were allocated to three groups: G1-control; G2-conventional physiotherapy; G3-thoracic-abdominal re-equilibrium therapy. The newborns in G2 and G3 received a single intervention. All were evaluated prior to, immediately after and 15 minutes after the intervention and subsequent rest for cardio-respiratory parameters (peripheral oxygen/SpO2 saturation, cardiac /fc and respiratory /fr frequency) and pain (specific scales: NIPS, NFCS and PIPP). The data were analyzed using the chisquared, Friedman, and Kruskal-Wallis tests, then by way of multiple comparisons. The level of significance was p<0.05.
RESULTS:
sixty newborns were included in the study, of whom 56.7% were female, 68.3% preterm/very low weight, with a mean corrected gestational age of 38.88 ± 2.03 weeks, a mean age of 13.22 ± 7.37 days and mean weight of 1603.42 ± 439.16 grams. Prior to the intervention, there was no difference between the groups in terms of pain or baseline cardio-respiratory parameters. Comparison of the effects of each of the procedures, between groups and between the three evaluations, revealed no significant alterations in the cardio-respiratory parameters under study (p>0.05). In relation to pain, there were significant changes in the NIPS scale (G1 and G2, p=0.037 and p=0.011, respectively) and in the PIPP scale (G2, p=0.005).
CONCLUSIONS:
respiratory physiotherapy techniques did not produce pain or cardio-respiratory instability in the newborns studied.
Infant, newborn; Respiratory therapy; Pain; Intensive care units
