Future directions for neonatal pain management

In order to minimise procedural pain in newborn infants, future strategies include reducing handling, decreasing the number of painful procedures performed and improving the sampling devices and techniques employed. A growing number of research studies have evaluated the effectiveness of non-invasive techniques for blood sampling and for drug delivery of topical or systemic analgesia. These methods may offer safe and effective alternatives for diagnosis and monitoring in neonates or for the administration of pharmaceutically active agents.