Neonatal nurses provide highly specialized care to critically ill preterm infants who endure frequent painful procedures. Despite evidence of effective strategies to manage pain, pain continues to be undertreated. Caring science offers a mature disciplinary foundation as a guide to professional practice. The aim of this paper is to utilize a caring science framework to help guide nurses to offer authentic neonatal care through the creation of a caring relationship and environment for promoting optimal pain assessment and management practices in preterm infants.
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