Effects of vibrating tourniquet application on the pain felt for blood drawing in pediatric patients

Abstract

In this study, it is planned to observe the effects of vibration tourniquet application on the pain felt in school-aged pediatric patients. This is a randomised study. The research population consisted of patients who were between ages 6 and 12 in the Pediatric Blood Drawing Unit at the Mersin University Research and Application Centers for diagnosis or treatment between dates of May 2017 and November 2017. The sample group consisted of 90 pediatric patients who were eligible for case taking criteria; 45 of them were control and other 45 of them were intervention group (vibrating tourniquet applied). All 90 patients agreed to participate in this study. The children information form was used to assess descriptive properties of children and Wong-Baker FACES- Pain Rating Scale was used for assessment of pain levels. In intervention group patients, blood was drawn with using vibrating tourniquet. Heart beat, respiration rate, blood pressure, fever and saturation level before and after blood drawn were measured for intervention and control group patients and they were asked to mark their level of pain on the Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale. There was a statistically significant difference when vibrating-tourniquet-applied case and vibrating-tourniquet-not-applied control groups' mean pain points were compared (p<0.05). In conclusion, the findings suggest that using vibrating tourniquet for drawing blood is effective in decreasing the pain level of children.