The impact of the guideline for pain management in Japanese neonatal intensive care units: A 5-year follow-up.

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.