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Analgesia by cooling vibration during venipuncture in children with cognitive impairment
Author(s) -
Schreiber Silvana,
Cozzi Giorgio,
Rutigliano Rosaria,
Assandro Paola,
Tubaro Martina,
Cortellazzo Wiel Luisa,
Ronfani Luca,
Barbi Egidio
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.13224
Subject(s) - venipuncture , medicine , physical therapy , cerebral palsy , anesthesia , cognition , checklist , pediatrics , psychiatry , psychology , cognitive psychology
Aim Children with cognitive impairment experience pain more frequently than healthy children and are more likely to require venipuncture or intravenous cannulation for various procedures. They are frequently unable to report pain and often receive poor pain assessment and management. This study assessed the effectiveness of physical analgesia during vascular access in children with cognitive impairments. Methods We conducted a prospective randomised controlled study at a tertiary‐level children's hospital in Italy from April to May 2015 to assess whether a cooling vibration device called Buzzy decreased pain during venipuncture and intravenous cannulation in children with cognitive impairment. None of the children had verbal skills and the main cognitive impairments were cerebral palsy, epileptic encephalopathy and genetic syndromes. Results We tested 70 children with a median age of nine years: 34 in the Buzzy group and 36 in the no‐intervention group. Parents were trained in the use of the Noncommunicating Children's Pain Checklist – postoperative version scale, and they reported no or mild procedural pain in 32 cases (91.4%) in the Buzzy group and in 22 cases (61.1%) in the no‐intervention group (p = 0.003). Conclusion Cooling vibration analgesia during vascular access reduced pain in children with cognitive impairment.