A Randomized, Crossover Comparison of Injected Buffered Lidocaine, Lidocaine Cream, and No Analgesia for Peripheral Intravenous Cannula Insertion

Adolescents' pain and distress during peripheral intravenous cannulation in a paediatric emergency setting

The objective of the study is to investigate pain and distress experienced by a group of adolescents and children during peripheral intravenous cannulation in a paediatric emergency department. This cross-sectional study was performed between November 2019 and June 2020 at the paediatric emergency department of the Institute for Maternal and Child Health of Trieste, Italy. Eligible subjects were patients between 4 and 17 years old undergoing intravenous cannulation, split into three groups based on their age: adolescents (13-17 years), older children (8-12 years), and younger children (4-7 years). Procedural distress and pain scores were recorded through validated scales. Data on the use of topical anaesthesia, distraction techniques, and physical or verbal comfort during procedures were also collected. We recruited 136 patients: 63 adolescents, 48 older children, and 25 younger children. There was no statistically significant difference in the median self-reported procedural pain found in adolescents (4; IQR = 2-6) versus older and younger children (5; IQR = 2-8 and 6; IQR = 2-8, respectively). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the rate of distress between adolescents (79.4%), older (89.6%), and younger (92.0%) children. Adolescents received significantly fewer pain relief techniques.Conclusion: This study shows that adolescents experience similar pain and pre-procedural distress as younger children during peripheral intravenous cannulation. What is Known: • Topical and local anaesthesia, physical and verbal comfort, and distraction are useful interventions for pain and anxiety management during intravenous cannulation in paediatric settings. • No data is available on pain and distress experienced by adolescents in the specific setting of the emergency department. What is New: • Adolescents experienced high levels of pre-procedural distress in most cases and similar levels of pain and distress when compared to younger patients • The number of pain relief techniques employed during procedures was inversely proportional to patient's age, topical or local anaesthesia were rarely used.

The Effectiveness of Local Hot and Cold Applications on Peripheral Intravenous Catheterization: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PURPOSE

This study was conducted to examine the effect of local hot and cold applications on pain, anxiety level, insertion time, and vein evaluation before peripheral venous catheter (PVC) insertion.

DESIGN

This randomized controlled trial was conducted with 90 patients who were hospitalized in the cardiology department of a university hospital.

METHODS

All the data were collected using a patient information form, the Numeric Rating Scale, and Vein Assessment Scale for the assessment of pain and anxiety. Before PVC was inserted, the researcher applied a hot application or a cold application to the catheter insertion site for 1 minute.

FINDINGS

Pain level was found to be significantly lower in the hot and cold application groups than the control group, and no difference was determined between the hot and cold application groups. The anxiety levels of the patients were significantly lower in the hot application group than the cold application and control groups (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Applying local hot and cold application before inserting the PVC reduced both pain and anxiety levels of the patients. However, hot application increased vein visibility and patient satisfaction and shortened the insertion time, whereas cold application decreased vein visibility, prolonged the insertion time, and decreased patient satisfaction.

Modelling nurses' use of local anaesthesia for intravenous cannulation and arterial blood gas sampling: A cross-sectional study

Background

Needle insertions are painful, yet they are frequently performed for adults and children without using local anaesthetic (LA) to minimise pain and anxiety.

Objectives

A hypothetical model was formulated to explore the factors related to Saudi nurses' self-reported readiness to use LA prior to undertaking parenteral procedures in their workplaces.

Design

This was an exploratory, cross-sectional study.

Methods

Four hundred seventy-five nurses were recruited from one hospital in Saudi Arabia. We considered eighteen latent variables related to nurses' attitudes and ability to pursue six roles associated with LA before needle procedures. A model was created to identify the staff attitudes and self-efficacy pathways influencing readiness to use LA.

Results

The nurses' readiness to use LA before needle procedures was directly predicted by organisational factors (e.g., hospital policy, doctors' orders), procedural time constraints, underestimation of needle pain, patient characteristics and medical conditions, nurses' knowledge and skills related to LA, and parenteral procedure practices.

Conclusions

Nurses' readiness to use LA was influenced by their beliefs about certain aspects of their practice and the nature of patients' presenting problems.

Impact statement

Identifying factors that affect LA use helps us understand this issue and may assist policymakers in developing nursing practice.

Uterine and Tubal Lavage for Earlier Cancer Detection Using an Innovative Catheter: A Feasibility and Safety Study

OBJECTIVES

Poor survival of high-grade serous pelvic cancer is caused by a lack of effective screening measures. The detection of exfoliated cells from high-grade serous pelvic cancer, or precursor lesions, is a promising concept for earlier diagnosis. However, collecting those cells in the most efficient way while fulfilling all requirements for a screening approach is a challenge. We introduce a new catheter for uterine and tubal lavage (UtL) and the clinical evaluation of its performance.

METHODS/MATERIALS

In study I, the clinical feasibility of the UtL using the new catheter was examined in 93 patients admitted for gynecologic surgery under general anesthesia. In study II, the safety of the UtL procedure was assessed. The pain during and after the UtL performed under local anesthesia was rated on a visual analog scale by 22 healthy women.

RESULTS

In study I, the UtL was carried out successfully in 92 (98.9%) of 93 cases by 16 different gynecologists. It was rated as easy to perform in 84.8% of patients but as rather difficult in cancer patients (odds ratio, 5.559; 95% confidence interval, 1.434-21.546; P = 0.007). For benign conditions, dilatation before UtL was associated with menopause status (odds ratio, 4.929; 95% confidence interval, 1.439-16.884; P = 0.016). In study II, the pain during UtL was rated with a median visual analog scale score of 1.6. During a period of 4 weeks after UtL, none of the participants had to use medication or developed symptoms requiring medical attention. The UtL took 6.5 minutes on average. The amount of extracted DNA was above the lower limit for a sensitive, deep-sequencing mutation analysis in all cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Our studies demonstrate that the UtL, using the new catheter, is a safe, reliable, and well-tolerated procedure, which does not require elaborate training. Therefore, UtL fulfils all prerequisites to be used in a potential screening setting.

Factors Influencing Nurses' Use of Local Anesthetics for Venous and Arterial Access

The use of local anesthetics to relieve pain associated with intravenous cannulation and arterial blood gas sampling is given low priority in many health institutions. This review sought to identify factors influencing nurses' use of local anesthetics for these procedures. The Database Syntax Guide for Systematic Reviewers was used; health-relevant studies were critically assessed with appropriate Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tools. Significant factors influencing the use of local anesthetics for parenteral procedures were identified, including the level of effectiveness among types of local anesthetics, the perceived benefits of facilitating needle insertions and patient satisfaction, the underestimation of pain associated with needle punctures, time concerns, physician authorization, and costs.

Comparison of the Efficacies of Topical Anaesthetics in the Reduction of the Pain during Peripheral Intravenous Cannulation: A Randomised Trial

Objective

This study aimed to compare the efficacies of two different topical anesthetic agents and placebo in the reduction of the pain observed during intravenous (IV) cannulation.

Methods

Study enrolled a total of 129 healthy male donors and IV cannulation was performed to antecubital region. The donors were assigned into three groups. Prilocaine-lidocaine mixture cream (E), lidocaine spray (X) and Placebo cream (P) were given to patients. After the administration the donors were waited for approximately 45 minutes. The pain experienced by the donors after the insertion of 16 gauge cannula in arms was recorded as “pain experienced at minute 0, 5 and 15” on 100 mm visual analog scale (VAS).

Results

In the first group, there was no significant difference between mean VAS scores recorded after the administration of prilocainelidocaine mixture cream and lidocaine spray before IV cannulation. Mean VAS value was 9.1 mm with prilocaine-lidocaine mixture cream and 9.3 mm with lidocaine spray. In the second group, we detected significant difference between mean VAS scores recorded after the administration of lidocaine spray and placebo cream. Mean VAS value was 9.8 mm with lidocaine spray and 24.3 mm with placebo (p<0.05). In the third group, we found statistically significant difference between VAS scores recorded after the administration of prilocaine-lidocaine mixture cream and placebo cream. Mean VAS value was 8.8 mm with prilocaine-lidocaine mixture cream and 33.0 mm with placebo cream (p<0.05).

Conclusion

Although both agents administrated before IV cannulation were superior to placebo in adult patients in this study, we can state that these drugs were not superior to each other and showed similar efficacy.

Needle Phobia

Venipuncture is generally associated with some degree of pain, discomfort, and/or apprehension. Yet most patients accept it with tolerance, even nonchalance. A few, not only pediatric patients, exhibit a higher degree of anxiety and face the procedure with tears, tension, and a variety of bargaining techniques (ie, stick on the count of 3; use only this vein). But for 1 group of people, venipuncture is associated with such fear that avoidance of the procedure is practiced. The end results are detrimental to the patient and may have an impact on society as well. These are patients the American Psychiatric Association classifies as needle phobic. What can a nurse with no training in psychiatry do to assist these patients? To form an appropriate professional response, it's beneficial for practitioners to recognize the different pathways that lead to needle phobia and the issues related to the disorder.

Safety and Efficacy of the "Easy Internal Jugular (IJ)": An Approach to Difficult Intravenous Access

BACKGROUND

The easy internal jugular (Easy IJ) technique involves placement of a single-lumen catheter in the internal jugular vein using ultrasound guidance. This technique is used in patients who do not have suitable peripheral or external jugular venous access. The efficacy and safety of this procedure are unknown.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to estimate efficacy and safety parameters for the Easy IJ when used in emergency department (ED) settings.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective study of the Easy IJ in stable ED patients with severe intravenous access difficulty. The study was conducted simultaneously at two academic EDs and a community university-affiliated ED. Patients were selected for failure of alternative access, hemodynamic stability, and ability to increase the IJ diameter with the Valsalva maneuver. Emergency physicians prepped the skin and inserted an 18-gauge, 4.8-cm catheter using a limited sterile technique. We collected the following data: patient body mass index, age, procedure time, pain score, initial success, loss of patency, occurrence of pneumothorax, infection, or arterial puncture.

RESULTS

We recorded 83 attempts in 74 patients, with a median age of 44 years and a median body mass index of 27 kg/m². The initial success rate was 88%, with a mean procedure time of 4.4 min (95% confidence interval 3.8-4.9). The average pain score was 3.9 out of 10 (95% confidence interval 3.4-4.5). Ten of 73 successful lines (14%) lost patency. There were no cases of pneumothorax, arterial puncture, or line infection.

CONCLUSION

The Easy IJ was inserted successfully in 88% of cases, with a mean time of 4.4 min. Loss of patency, the only complication, occurred in 14% of cases.

Advanced intravenous access: technique choices, pain scores, and failure rates in a local registry

BACKGROUND

When an intravenous (IV) catheter is needed and the common approach of inspection and palpation fails, an advanced access technique becomes necessary. Our objectives were to estimate pain scores, operator times, success rates, and complication rates when advanced techniques are used in a clinical setting.

METHODS

We enrolled patients who had a need for advanced IV access and were able to give informed consent to participate in our study. We collected data on operator type, technique, initial success, number of attempts, skin punctures, operator time, pain scores, and complications. We estimated confidence intervals for proportions using normal binomial approximation or exact calculation.

RESULTS

The registry documented 154 attempts in 116 patients. The median time from triage to establishment of an IV line was 203 minutes; multiple advanced attempts were required in 24% of cases. Most attempts (95%) used either ultrasound-guided cannulation of a peripheral vein (PUG) (108) or cannulated the external jugular vein (EJ) (38). These 2 methods yielded similar pain scores (4.3-4.5), but PUG required more skin punctures (1.6 vs 1.2) and longer operator time (17.7 vs 11.9 minutes). The only complication was IV line failure, occurring in 6% (95% confidence interval, 0%-18%) of EJ approaches and 27% (95% confidence interval, 18%-38%) of the PUG scenarios.

CONCLUSION

Most attempts to establish IV access used PUG or the EJ. External jugular vein cannulation was achieved more quickly, with fewer skin punctures and a lower rate of postinsertion failure, than PUG.

The effect of buffered lidocaine in local anesthesia: a prospective, randomized, double-blind study

PURPOSE

Open carpal tunnel decompression under local anesthesia is routinely done by many surgeons. However, patients complain of pain during the injection of local anesthesia. This prospective, double-blind, randomized study was to compare the pain visual analog scale (VAS) scores of local anesthesia using lidocaine with and without sodium bicarbonate in patients with bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome.

METHODS

Twenty-five patients underwent bilateral simultaneous carpal tunnel decompression. All had topical anesthetic cream applied on the palm and wrist before the lidocaine block. In a randomized manner, half of the hands were blocked with nonbuffered lidocaine and half were blocked with buffered lidocaine. Pain was evaluated on a VAS score.

RESULTS

The mean pain VAS score in the hand with buffered lidocaine was 4.6 ± 1.5 and 6.5 ± 1.5 for the hand with nonbuffered lidocaine. After adjustment for individual threshold of the pain, the mean pain VAS score changed into 4.6 ± 1.3 with buffered lidocaine and 6.6 ± 1.7 without buffered lidocaine.

CONCLUSIONS

In open carpal tunnel surgery, the use of buffered lidocaine for local anesthesia reduces the anesthetic pain effectively.

TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Therapeutic I.

The use of the faces, legs, activity, cry and consolability scale to assess procedural pain and distress in young children

INTRODUCTION

Young children frequently undergo diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the emergency department (ED). Although developed and validated for postoperative pain, Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) behavioral pain scores have been recommended and used for the assessment of procedural pain as well. We set out to assess if FLACC scores can differentiate pain and distress and establish a hierarchy of FLACC scores experienced during common ED procedures.

METHODS

Prospective observational study at an urban tertiary children's hospital ED. We aimed to recruit 30 children each aged 6 to 42 months undergoing intravenous cannula (IV) insertion, nasogastric tube (NGT) insertion, metered dose inhaler (MDI) use and oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) measurement. Based on videotapes, 2 independent observers assessed pain and distress using FLACC scores during all procedural phases.

RESULTS

A total of 125 patients were recruited and filmed for IV (33), NGT (30), MDI (34), and SpO2 (28). Median FLACC scores were as follows: NGT, 10 (interquartile range [IQR] 8.75-10); IV, 6.5 (IQR, 4.5-9.75); MDI, 6.5 (IQR, 0-9); and SpO(2), 0 (IQR, 0-0.5). The FLACC scores increased during each of the 3 phases, before the procedure, during restraint, and during the procedure. Procedural distress decreased with age except for NGT insertions, which remained very high irrespective of age.

CONCLUSIONS

FLACC scores can be high during nonpainful procedures and the during restraint phase of painful procedures. This indicates that FLACC measures a composite of pain and distress in young children. This study identified substantial levels of pain and distress in young children by FLACC during commonly performed ED procedures, with nasogastric tube insertion having very high and intravenous cannulation/venepuncture and MDI having high FLACC scores.

Interventions to improve patient-centered care during times of emergency department crowding

Patient-centered care is defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as care that is responsive to individual patient needs and values and that guides treatment decisions. This article is the result of a breakout session of the 2011 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference "Interventions to Assure Quality in the Crowded Emergency Department" and focuses on three broad domains of patient-centered care: patient satisfaction, patient involvement, and care related to patient needs.The working group provided background information and an overview of interventions that have been conducted in the domains of patient satisfaction, patient involvement (patients' preferences and values in decision-making), and patient needs (e.g., comfort, information, education). Participants in the breakout session discussed interventions reported in the medical literature as well as initiated at their institutions, discussed the effect of crowding on patient-centered care, and prioritized, in a two-step voting process, five areas of focus for establishing a research agenda for studying patient-centered care during times of crowding. The research priorities for enhancing patient-centered care in all three domains during periods of crowding are discussed. These include assessing the effect of other quality domains on patient satisfaction and determining the effects of changes in ED operations on patient satisfaction; enhancing patient involvement by determining the effect of digital records and health information technology (HIT); rapid assessment areas with focused patient-provider communication; and meeting patients' needs through flexible staffing, use of HIT to enhance patient communication, discharge instructions, and postdischarge telephone calls.

Procedural pain management: a position statement with clinical practice recommendations

The American Society for Pain Management Nursing (ASPMN) has developed a position statement and clinical practice recommendations related to procedural preparation and comfort management. Procedures potentially produce pain and anxiety, both of which should be assessed and addressed before the procedure begins. This position statement refers to "comfort management" as incorporating the management of pain, anxiety, and any other discomforts that may occur with procedures. It is the position of ASPMN that nurses and other health care professionals advocate and intervene based on the needs of the patient, setting, and situation, to provide optimal comfort management before, during, and after procedures. Furthermore, ASPMN does not condone procedures being performed without the implementation of planned comfort assessment and management. In addition to outlining this position with supporting evidence, this paper reviews the ethical considerations regarding procedural comfort management and provides recommendations for nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic management during all phases of the procedure. An appendix provides a summary of this position statement and clinical practice recommendations.

Local anesthesia before IV catheterization

BACKGROUND

Intradermal buffered lidocaine is known to be effective in producing local anesthesia prior to IV catheterization. Recently, intradermal bacteriostatic normal saline has been suggested as a possible alternative.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the efficacy of intradermal bacteriostatic normal saline with that of intradermal buffered lidocaine in providing local anesthesia to adult patients prior to IV catheterization.

METHODS

In a randomized, double-blind, parallel-design, quasiexperimental study, we compared pain ratings of adult patients receiving either intradermal buffered lidocaine or intradermal bacteriostatic normal saline before IV catheterization. We measured pain at venipuncture through the use of a verbal numeric rating scale, used the test to compare group differences, and performed an analysis of covariance to test for outcome differences related to age, sex, and race or ethnicity.

RESULTS

The final sample (N = 148) was 65% women and 82% white, with a mean age of 52 years (range, 19 to 80 years). Demographic characteristics between the two treatment groups were similar. Intradermal buffered lidocaine was demonstrated to be significantly superior to intradermal bacteriostatic normal saline in reducing the pain of IV catheterization (P = 0.007). Differences in pain ratings between the two groups were not associated with age, sex, race or ethnicity, catheter size, or location of the IV site.

CONCLUSIONS

Intradermal buffered lidocaine was superior to intradermal bacteriostatic normal saline in providing local anesthesia prior to IV catheterization in this group of predominately white adults and should be the solution of choice for venipuncture pretreatment.

Administration of local anesthetic agents to decrease pain associated with peripheral vascular access

The purpose of this study was to compare a variety of local anesthetic agents before starting an intravenous (i.v.) device to determine which method is the most comfortable for patients. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pretest-posttest experimental design, the study compared 5 treatment groups (anesthetic spray, placebo spray, anesthetic intradermal injection, placebo intradermal injection, and a control group with no local anesthetic agent) in 84 emergency department patients. Pain was measured with a visual analog scale before and after the application of the local anesthetic agents and after i.v. insertion. Pain was significantly higher in the anesthetic intradermal injection group 1 minute after anesthetic application compared with the other treatment groups. Pain ratings 3 minutes after i.v. insertion were found to be similar for the 5 treatment groups. These study results do not support the use of intradermal anesthetic agents before i.v. catheter insertion.