Diana Lulgjuraj

Department of Nursing, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, USA

Abstract Title: Buzzing Away the Sting: Exploring a Cold-Vibrating Device to Reduce Pediatric Needle Pain

Biography:

Diana Lulgjuraj, PhD, RN, CPN is the Assistant Director of Nursing Research at Montefiore Medical Center. Diana was a pediatric staff nurse for more than 5 years before transitioning to her current leadership role, where she is able to continue her own research and mentor nurses throughout the health system in theirs. Diana has presented at numerous national and international conferences and has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

Research Interest:

The fear of needles is a common fear amongst children. Needle-related procedures are routine during childhood and increase when children are hospitalized. Pain management is a nursing priority and ethical responsibility. A systematic review found using a cold-vibrating device, such as the Buzzy®, significantly reduced pain in children during needle-related procedures (Su et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Buzzy® in decreasing children’s reported pain and parents’ perceived pain during needle-related procedures. A quasi-experimental study was designed to collect data retrospectively. Children at one children’s hospital continued to receive the pain management technique selected by their providers, which now also included the Buzzy®. Hospitalized children younger than 18 years old who underwent a needle related procedure were recruited to complete a questionnaire consisting of the pain management techniques utilized and their pain rating on the Wong-Baker FACES (2018) Pain Rating scale. Children were subsequently placed in the experimental or control group based on whether the Buzzy® was used. Two-hundred children were included in this study. Most were infants (51%) undergoing venipuncture for a lab draw (61%) in which the provider took one attempt (83%). While there was no significant difference in children’s or parents’ self-assessed pain scores, irrespective of the intervention (P= 0.28 and P= 0.39, respectively), the use of Buzzy® alone was associated with a positive trend towards less needle-related pain when compared to parents’ pain scores (P=.046). This study highlights the value of the Buzzy® as a child-friendly, non-pharmacological pain management modality. With no adverse events, the rapid onset of action of the Buzzy®, and acceptability among older children, pediatric nurses and providers are encouraged to use the Buzzy® to minimize pain and enhance the patient’s hospitalization experience.