Comparison of Two Distraction Methods on Venipuncture Pain in Children

Venipuncture is a common iatrogenic procedure and a great source of pain in children who attend to hospital. The aim of the present study was comparing the effect of playing a riddle and music on the severity of pain perception during venipuncture. In this clinical trial, a total of 243 children aged 7 to 9 years were allocated to the trial and control groups by a blocked randomization method in Amir Kabir hospital of Arak. A visual riddle was played before and during venipuncture for one trial group and a visual music was played for another trial group via a same tablet. In all groups, venipuncture was performed with a 22-gauge cannula by a nurse in a similar place. Severity of pain was measured using the Wong-Baker scale and the mean differences was compared through Kruskal-Wallis test.  This study with research ethics code IR.ARAKMU.REC.1397.061 has been approved by research ethics committee at Arak University of Medical Sciences and also has been registered with code IRCT20150818023670N3 at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). The differences of the pain mean scores between the riddle group (1.14±0.92), the music group (2.37±0.98) and the control group (3.44 ±0.76) were significant (p<0.05). The Bonferoni test revealed that the pain mean scores in the riddle and the music groups were significantly different (p<0.001). The mean score was lower in the riddle group. Using the riddle and the music methods decreased the pain of venipuncture procedure. The severity of pain in the riddle group was lower than the music group.