Open AccessManaging pain and fear: Playing your CARDs to improve the vaccination experience
Author(s) -
Anna Taddio,
Anthony N T Ilersich,
C. Meghan McMurtry,
Lucie M. Bucci,
i E. MacDonald
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
canada communicable disease report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1481-8531
pISSN - 1188-4169
DOI - 10.14745/ccdr.v47i01a12
Subject(s) - vaccination , psychological intervention , fainting , medicine , psychology , psychiatry , immunology
Most vaccinations are administered with a needle, which can cause pain and pain-related symptoms such as fear and fainting. At present, interventions aimed at preventing pain and associated symptoms are not systematically integrated in the vaccination delivery process even though they contribute to negative experiences with vaccination and vaccination noncompliance. In this article, a novel framework for vaccination delivery called the CARD™ system was reviewed. CARD is an acronym for Comfort, Ask, Relax and Distract, whereby each letter category incorporates evidence-based interventions to reduce pain and fear and related symptoms. CARD can be integrated in usual vaccination planning and delivery activities in many settings to improve the vaccination experience and decrease pain and fear as barriers to vaccination. Immunizers in all settings and organizational leaders are invited to review their vaccination services against CARD to identify opportunities for enhancing the quality of care being provided.