TY - JOUR T1 - Hand-held computers can help to distract children undergoing painful venipuncture procedures. JF - Acta Paediatr Y1 - 2016 A1 - Crevatin, Franca A1 - Cozzi, Giorgio A1 - Braido, Elena A1 - Bertossa, Gabriella A1 - Rizzitelli, Patrizia A1 - Lionetti, Daniela A1 - Matassi, Daniela A1 - Calusa, Dorotea A1 - Ronfani, Luca A1 - Barbi, Egidio AB -

AIM: Needle-related procedures can be painful for children, and distraction provides ideal pain relief in blood-drawing centres. This study assessed the effectiveness of playing a computer game during venipuncture, compared with low-tech distraction by a nurse.

METHODS: We conducted this prospective, randomised controlled trial at the blood-drawing centre of a tertiary-level children's hospital in Italy. Half of the 200 children played Angry Birds on a hand-held computer while the other half were distracted by a second, specifically trained nurse who sang to them, read a book, blew bubbles or played with puppets. Pain was measured using a faces pain scale for children aged 4-7 years and a numeric scale for children aged 8-13 years.

RESULTS: The 200 children had a median age of eight years. Children reported significant pain in 16 cases (16%) in the hand-held computer distraction group and in 15 cases (15%) in the nurse-led low-tech distraction group (p = 0.85). The procedural success rate at the first attempt was not different in the two groups.

CONCLUSION: Playing a game on a hand-held computer meant that only one in six children reported pain during venipuncture, but it was not superior to being distracted by nurses.

VL - 105 IS - 8 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27128220?dopt=Abstract ER -