Chronic pain in the neonate: a research design connecting Ancient Delphi to the modern 'Dutch Polder'

摘要

Introduction: To date research on neonatal pain has focused mainly on acute or procedural pain. It is recognised that prolonged or chronic pain exists in this age group. Studies on this subject fail to provide a clear description of chronic pain in the neonate. Objectives: To identify the most appropriate consensus-building method in order to answer three research questions concerning the definition of chronic pain in the neonate, the etiology and the clinical signs and symptoms. Methodology: We performed a literature search with regards to the methodology of the Delphi method, the Nominal Group Technique and the Consensus Development Conference. Results: We found only sparse data reviewing the Nominal Group Technique and the ConsensusDevelopment Method. More data was found for the Delphi method. Discussion: We chose to design a Delphi survey in the light of our research questions. The main arguments were the ability to include experts from all over the globe, and the low probability of introducing bias. Conclusion: All three methods have strong and weak points. A major criterion should be the validity of the design. However, conclusions on validity are hampered by the marginal amount of papers found for two of the three designs.