Pain Unheard? Postoperative Pain Assessment in Neonates and Infants

Study aim: The study aimed at answering two questions: • How reliable. valid, and feasible is the multidimensional COMFORT scale to assess postoperative pain in infants and toddlers 0-3 years of age? • What is the difference between intermittent morphine administration and continuous intravenous morphine in terms of quality and effectiveness of analgesia for postoperative pain in infants and toddlers 0-3 years of age? The studies described in this thesis deal primarily with the first question. The differences between the two morphine conditions in relation to hormonal and metabolic plasma levels and morphine plasma levels will be reported elsewhere. During data collection a third research question came up, inspired by the eventful hospital history of some children combined with the individual differences in pain response and morphine requirement after surgery in our sample. This question was also justified by publications on subsequent and long-tenn consequences of neonatal pain. The third, additional question is: • Are the present postoperative pain and stress response related to past experiences with pain?

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