Effective management of pain in painful interventions of children is also effective in decreasing pain and anxiety. Although venous interventions such as blood draw look like minor interventions, they can be perceived as painful and scary interventions by children (Uman et al., 2013; Wang, Sun, & Chen, 2008). Painful experiences for children during blood draws and other invasive procedures can cause negative consequences such as extreme anxiety during future procedures and extreme physiological reactions during the current procedure. In addition, previous painful experiences, fear of needles, and anxiety continue into adulthood, and this situation can cause increased pain reaction and may result in avoiding medical procedures. For all these reasons, venous interventions, for example, which are an important source of fear and anxiety in children, should be managed effectively (Canbulat, Inal, & Sönmezer, 2014; Singh, 2012). Nurses should know about and apply nonpharmacological methods as much as pharmacological methods in stopping the pain. Distraction technique, which is among nonpharmacological methods, is used to decrease sensitivity for pain, fear, and anxiety by distracting the attention away from the pain to another interesting stimulant (Canbulat et al., 2014; Şahiner & Bal, 2015; Yoo, Hur, & Kim, 2011). Distraction provides a feeling of control by making the patient pay attention to other things through the distraction methods. With this method, the person's pain does not go away completely; however, the tolerance increases, which means the threshold of pain increases. Active methods that are used to distract are blowing up balloons, singing, squeezing plastic balls, breathing exercises, and playing with electronic devices, while passive methods are watching videos, listening to songs, reading, and telling stories (
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.