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A fun way to combat pain

06.2024
Author Dr. Martin Claßen, Bremen

Venipunctures are one of the most stressful situations in clinics and practices – for children, parents and staff alike. In a Turkish clinic, a randomised study has now been conducted on 111 children between the ages of 6 and 12 to reduce anxiety and pain during venipunctures. In the study, 37 children were asked to create bubbles during the puncture, and 37 children were asked to squeeze a rubber ball; 37 were in the control group. Pain and anxiety were measured using analogous scales.
In both intervention groups, pain was significantly reduced (p < 0.001); in the bubble group, there was also a significant reduction in anxiety before the puncture.

Comment: Distraction strategies are among the most important techniques for reducing anxiety and pain during venipunctures – with everyone developing their own individual method. The study gives two further suggestions and shows that the more attractive the distractions are, the better they work.
It should be obvious that all opportunities to reduce fear and pain should be taken from the outset, so that patients do not begin the spiral of anxiety, tension and increased pain in the first place – all interventions are worthwhile in the long run. We ourselves often use local anaesthetic creams, but we will now also provide bubble solution.

Reference:
Oluc N, Arslan FT. The effect of two different methods on reducing the pain and fear during phlebotomy to children: A randomized controlled trial. Int Emerg Nurs. 2024 Feb: 72:101386. doi: 10.1016/j.ienj.2023.101386.  Epub 2023 Nov 18.

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