JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Intravenous injection is a crucial clinical care issue particularly in hospitalized children. If there is no appropriate health care for pain relief, the proportion of moderate and severe pain often exceeds 70%. Healthcare providers have to take active actions to conduct a pain relief intervention for the hospitalized children.

Objective:

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of BUZZY device for pain relief during intravenous injection in preschool children. The specific aims of the study include: (1) the pain levels of preschool children during intravenous injections; (2) the effectiveness of Buzzy for pain relief during intravenous injection in preschool children; (3) relevant factors that affect the effectiveness of Buzzy; (4) the degree of influence that injection experience has on needle pain in preschool children during intravenous injection; and (5) the demographics of children with different pain levels during intravenous injection.

Methods:

A quasi-experimental design with random assignment was used in this study. The study participants were recruited from Child medical ward of Medical center in Northern Taiwan. A total of 60 pre-school children aged 3 to 7 years were participated in this study including 30 participants in experimental group and 30 participants in control group. The "BUZZY device" was applied as an intervention of this study. Four instruments were used in the study: a demographic information sheet, Wong-Baker Face Scale, Oucher pain Scale, and Face pain scale-Revised scale. Data collection was performed by interviews, observations and physiological measurements. The data of the study were analyzed by descriptive analysis, paired t-test, independent t-test, and χ2- test.

Results:

There were four major findings in the study. The use of BUZZY device could effectively alleviate the pain levels of intravenous injection in pre-school children. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in the pain behavioral response (FLACC) during injection and the actual pain perception (WBFS) after intravenous injection. There was a statistically significant difference in the minimum and maximum heart rate during intra-group injection. This finding indicated that the heartbeat was susceptible to pain and could be changed.

Conclusions:

These results indicated that the intervention of using BUZZY device was effective in reducing pain levels of intravenous injection in pre-school children. For future application, the study method and intervention can be extended to other age groups to help healthcare providers improve non-invasive care among children. All health professionals involved in children’s healthcare research might apply the information of this study to their areas.