Decreasing children's distress during medical procedures

Abstract

Medical fears are common in children and can have long‐term implications for future attitudes toward health care. Providing accurate information about an impending medical procedure can help the inexperienced child prepare for a painful or unpleasant medical experience and ultimately adapt to the experience more rapidly. The main strategies for providing developmentally appropriate medical information to children are reviewed, and common errors made by parents and medical staff are highlighted. However, anxious children who have already experienced difficult or painful medical procedures are unlikely to be helped by additional information. Distraction, relaxation, and imagery techniques specifically designed for such children who already have developed medical phobias are reviewed. The importance of parents and other adults as “coaches” for children during stressful medical procedures is addressed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The Management of the Sibling Hematopoietic Stem Cell Donor

“…(Packman et al) Once it is determined that the pediatric sibling donor is fit to undergo the donation procedure, the PCP may have a significant role in decreasing the child's stress and anxiety about the impending donation. In a study pertaining to children's distress during medical procedures, Dahlquist (1997) showed that fearsome events are perceived as less uncomfortable and are adapted to more quickly by children when they are predictable. Providing accurate and age-appropriate information about the impending procedure may also help the child prepare for the experience and adapt to it more rapidly.…”

“…Providing accurate and age-appropriate information about the impending procedure may also help the child prepare for the experience and adapt to it more rapidly. This information increases the predictability of frightening medical procedures, thereby increasing the probability of a less stressful experience and a more rapid recovery (Dahlquist, 1997). Additional potential benefits of providing accurate and effective information about an impending procedure include fostering trust, reducing uncertainty, enhancing a child’s belief in his or her ability to cope with a procedure, minimizing distress, optimizing outcomes and recovery time, and minimizing pain (Jaaniste, Hayes, & von Baeyer, 2007).…”