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Effects of parental presence during children's venipuncture
1Division of Emergency Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA.
Insights
Parental presence during pediatric venipuncture (VP) significantly reduces distress for both children and parents. However, health professional distress levels remain unaffected by whether a parent is present or absent during the procedure.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric emergency medicine
- Pain management
- Child psychology
Background:
- Venipuncture (VP) is a common and often distressing procedure for children in emergency settings.
- Parental presence during medical procedures can influence patient and caregiver experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of parental presence on the self-reported distress levels of children, parents, and health professionals during pediatric venipuncture.
Main Methods:
- A prospective randomized study involving 130 children (8-18 years) undergoing venipuncture in a pediatric emergency department.
- Participants were randomized into groups with or without parental presence.
- Distress was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) for children, parents, and health professionals.
Main Results:
- Children and parents reported significantly lower distress scores when a parent was present during venipuncture (p < 0.04 and p < 0.01, respectively).
- No significant difference in distress levels was observed for health professionals regardless of parental presence (p < 0.55).
Conclusions:
- Parental presence during pediatric venipuncture is associated with reduced distress for both the child and the parent.
- The presence of a parent does not appear to affect the distress experienced by the health professional performing the venipuncture.
Objective:
To determine whether parental presence during venipuncture (VP) altered self-reported distress of the child, the parent, or the health professional (HP) performing VP.
Methods:
During nine consecutive months, 130 nonconsecutive 8-18-year-old children having VP in an urban pediatric ED were prospectively randomized into two groups of 65 patients each. Before VP, every child, parent, and HP completed a questionnaire developed to measure epidemiologic variables believed to influence distress during VP. The patients were randomized to have either a parent present or both parents absent during VP. The patients, the parents, and the HPs privately self-reported their distress during VP on a visual analog scale (VAS). Statistical significance was determined by the Mann-Whitney U (rank-sum) test.
Results:
In the parent-present group, distress scores were lower for the parent (p < 0.01) and for the child (p < 0.04) than they were in the parents-absent group. The HP performing VP had no difference in distress scores with and without parental presence (p < 0.55).
Conclusions:
Parents and children having VP have less distress with parental presence. Health professional distress is not affected by parental presence.