Assessment of pain behaviour among patients submitted to mechanical ventilation in intensive care unit

Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess pain behaviour related to invasive interventions among patients submitted to mechanical ventilation in intensive care unit. Materials and Methods: This study which is descriptive and cross sectional was conducted with 108 patients at the six intensive care units in a hospital. The data were collected by means of Patient Information Form, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses 'Sedation Assessment Scale for Critically İll Patients and Turkish Version of The Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool. Descriptive and correlation were used in statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of patients was 68.15±17.6 (18-94) years, %59.3 were female. The first three procedures with highest mean behavioral pain points at the patients were inserting nasogastric tube (5.50±1.8), endotracheal aspiration (5.31±1.9), and nasofarengeal aspiration (4.61±2.0). The most seen pain behaviours were facial expression (tense and grimacing), uncompliance with the ventilator (coughing but tolerating) and muscle tension (very tense or rigid). A significant negative correlation was found between the level of consciousness and perception of pain severity. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that patients need additional analgesia requirements before painful procedures and the analgesia and sedation requirements should be regulated individually. Keywords: Intensive care, acute pain, conscious sedation.