Non-pharmacological interventions in painful needle procedures in children: integrative review

• Published in: BrJP 2022
• Main Authors: Mendes, Bárbara Vitória, Furlan, Maryana da Silva, Sanches, Mariana Bucci
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Subjects: HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES
• ISSN: 2595-3192
• DOI: 10.5935/2595-0118.20220004

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The World Health Organization recommends that pain in children should be treated as a fundamental human right. Children in health services are exposed to numerous painful procedures as part of their treatment, for instance, immunization and blood testing. Painful experiences during such procedures can cause extreme anxiety in future conducts, making children more vulnerable to pain. The present study’s objective was to examine the non-pharmacological interventions most described in the literature for pain management during painful procedures with needles in children above the age of one. CONTENTS: Integrative literature review from CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and Pubmed databases. The publications researched were from between 2010 and 2020. The leading question was “Which are the non-pharmacological interventions most described in the literature for pain control in children undergoing needle procedures”? The database search found 252 articles, six were included in the review and distraction was the most observed strategy for non-pharmacological intervention. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that the most used strategy for pain relief was distraction, in special the audiovisual distraction.