Effectiveness of distractions for pain in children during venepuncture

Abstract

Introduction: Venepuncture is the collection of blood from a vein through the use of a needle. It is routinely performed in the majority of children who are admitted to hospital, but it is considered a source of great distress for the child, their parents or guardians, as well as the health care professional carrying out the procedure. Numerous studies investigate a variety of distractions and their effect on reducing the perception of pain during the venepuncture procedure. Research Question and PICO Elements: The PICO question formulated was; ‘Are distractions (Intervention) effective in reducing pain (Outcome) compared to no distraction (Comparison) during venepuncture in school aged children (Population)?’ Method: Using HyDi, SCOPUS, Pubmed, EBSCO, and Google scholar, the literature was narrowed down from an initial 43 articles. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were set and duplicates were eliminated. This resulted in a final total of 9 articles; 1 systematic review and 8 randomised controlled trials. CASP tools were used to analyse the validity and reliability of the articles depending on the quality of the design mentioned. Conclusion: The overall conclusion from the studies was that distractions are an effective way of reducing how much pain a child perceives during venepuncture, as long as the distraction is chosen with the child’s age in mind. Recommendations: In practice, guidelines to help healthcare providers choose the appropriate method of distraction should be provided by hospital management as well as enhancing education and conducting further research. Nurses and doctors should also be encouraged to further their professional development through lectures, seminars and conferences as well as personal research about the topic. Enhancing parents and guardians to become aware about the effects of distractions will also be of benefit to the children.