ACCURACY OF MIDWIVES ASSESSMENT OF PAIN DURING INTRA-UTERINE DEVICE (IUD) INSERTION

One of the concerns during IUD insertion is fear of pain and discomfort. Providers usually underestimate client`s pain. This study compares midwives assessment of pain and maximum client pain in the IUD insertion procedure. One hundred and twenty six women that wanted to insert IUD were included in the study at Urmia health centers. Participants rated the pain using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 0-10 cm at different times. Midwives assessed clients` pain just after termination of the IUD insertion process. Spearman and Wilcoxon tests and also descriptive analysis were used to analysis data using the SPSS v. 20 Software. Mean maximum client pain was 4.56 ± 2.15. There was a positive correlation between the anticipated client pain before IUD insertion and also estimated pain by midwives with the maximum pain reported by participants (p<0.001). There was a significant difference between the mean pain score estimated by midwives and the maximum patient pain during the IUD insertion procedure (p<0.001). Midwives underestimate the pain during IUD insertion. Question of anticipated patient pain might be helpful in counseling process prior to the IUD insertion procedure and also in probable selecting pain decreasing routes.