Background This study presented the guidelines for the prevention and management of procedural pain management in Japan and investigated the impact of these guidelines on Japanese neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The aim of this study was to investigate whether the published national guidelines influenced organizational factors that could lead to improved pain management and, if so, whether the number of units that perform pain assessments, the administration of local guidelines and collaboration among health care professionals had improved in the 5-year period from 2012 to 2017. Method An anonymous questionnaire was sent to 106 Level 3 NICUs across Japan. Results The response rate was 78 (81 units). In almost all cases, the implementation of organizational factors had increased. Forty-seven units (47) reported that health care professionals collaborated in pain management, compared with 11 units (17.7) in 2012. In addition, compliance with the guidelines for pain assessment improved over the 5-year period. Twenty-four units (30) reported that they used a structured scale for pain measurement, compared with nine units (15) in 2012. Conclusion The current study suggested that the national guidelines published in 2014 influenced the organizational factors that could lead to improved pain management in Japanese NICUs. The number of units that used a structured scale for pain measurement, the development of local guidelines, and collaboration among health care professionals increased over the 5-year period from 2012 to 2017.
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