The effect of balloon inflating on venous opening pain in children

Background: Venous opening is a usual but painful procedure in bedridden children. Performing anything to distract the child from thinking of pain could reduce the pain. Objective: This study was performed to determine the effect of balloon inflating on venous opening pain in 4-7 years old children. Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial in which 60 children (30 in balloon inflating group and 30 in control group) aged 4-7 years old who were referred to surgical department of Qods hospital investigated. A questionnaire including the demographic characteristics and FACES Wong-Baker pain gradation index was used to collect data. Using simple randomization, the patients were divided into two groups. In balloon inflating group, the children were educated on how to inflate a balloon prior to injection and later, using the pain determination tools, the severity of pain was measured at the time of venous opening. In control group, without any intervention, the venous was opened and the severity of pain determined. Data were analyzed using statistical tests including the chi square test and independent T test. Findings: The mean pain severity in balloon group was 1.60±1.42 and in control group 5.26±3.46 and the difference between two groups was significant, statistically. Conclusion: According to findings of the present study, balloon inflating is an effective, non medical, cheap and available method to reduce the pain in children when venous opening procedure is performed. Hence, it could be widely used to control and reduce the pain in children at time of therapeutic interventions.