Abstract: Objective: To explore the experience of neonatology nurses' participation in pain management from the perspectives of core competencies, and provide a basis for improving the quality of pain management in neonates. Methods: From November 2022 to February 2023, 16 nurses in neonatology units from five tertiary general hospitals and five tertiary specialty hospitals in Guangdong province were recruited for semi-structured interviews for pain management experience. The content analysis method was used to summarize and extract the themes. Results: Four main themes and 12 sub-themes were identified. Four main themes were challenges of pain management in neonates, difficulties in neonatal pain assessment and measurement, insufficient pain management and prevention in neonates, and impediments to neonatology nurses' knowledge transformation and utilization. Conclusion: Problems and difficulties in neonatal pain assessment and management, and knowledge application are acknowledged by the interviewees. Managers should design training and improvement projects based on core competencies for pain management to improve the quality of integrated pain care in neonates.

Key words: neonatology; nurses; pain; core competence; experience; qualitative studies