Pain Management Strategies for Children with Blood Diseases and Cancer During Venipuncture and IV Line Insertion: A Descriptive-Analytical Study on Nurses

Document Type : original article

Authors

1 Master of Nursing, Dr. Sheikh Children's Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

2 Clinical Supervisor, Dr. Sheikh Children's Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

3 Internal specialist, Medical school, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

4 Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Specialist, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Sheikh Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

5 Nursing manager, Dr. Sheikh Children's Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Children with blood diseases are frequently subjected to invasive treatments such as venipuncture and IV line insertion (V-IVLI). Pain from V-IVLI harms children. Nurses' efforts to relieve patients' pain is an important responsibility. Most studies have examined the effectiveness of various methods of pain relief during V-IVLI. However, it is also important to study how nurses deal in the situation. This study aimed to determine nurses' strategies for relieving pain in children with blood diseases and cancer while V-IVLI.
Methods: This study was conducted in a pediatric hospital in northeastern Iran in 2025. The study instrument was a semi-structured questionnaire that collected demographic information, data on nurses' V-IVLI skills, and nurses' relaxation strategies. Nurses from outpatient chemotherapy, and hematology departments were surveyed using a census method. Data were analyzed in SPSS 24.
Results: A total of 40 subjects (55% female) with a mean age of 30.80 years were studied. 80% of the nurses stated that they did not succeed in V-IVLI on the first attempt. Only 37.5% of the nurses believed that they had been adequately prepared for V-IVLI through the training system. Nurses described V-IVLI skills as poor in 20.5% of cases. Greeting with the child, using distraction techniques, verbally obtaining the child's consent, and changing the child's position were the most frequently used strategies.
Conclusions: This study showed that nurses use pain relief strategies well in children during V-IVLI; however, training was not sufficient to perform a successful V-IVLI and this skill needs to be strengthened.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Pediatric Perspectives
Volume 13, Issue 7
July 2025
Pages 19552-19560

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