Talking to the patient and not focusing on the act of injecting for a blood test, an infusion or anesthesia can reduce their pain and anxiety.
- Researchers compared the effects of three types of communication on patients’ pain, comfort and anxiety during the placement of an infusion.
- The use of positive words can improve pain perception and the patient’s subjective experience.
“Careful, I sting”, would not be the ideal phrase to pronounce before a blood test or an epidural. This is demonstrated a new studypublished in the journal British Journal of anesthesiawhere intensive care anesthesiologists analyzed the impact of the words spoken during the placement of an infusion on the pain felt by patients.
Compare the effects of three types of communication
“We sought to compare the effects of three types of communication on patients’ pain, comfort and anxiety during infusion insertion” on the back of the hand, explain the authors in the preamble. They argue that “the use of words related to pain or adverse experiences may lead to greater pain and anxiety. Conversely, the use of positive words may improve pain perception and subjective experience of the patient”.
Before the injection, a first group of patients under hypnosis heard “How did you come to the hospital this morning, how long did it take you to come? Does your bike still go to the swimming pool?”, a second group heard: “I place a rubber band, I disinfect, I put the infusion” and the third group heard: “I squeeze the tourniquet tight, it’s cold, be careful, it’s going to hurt, one two three I sting”.
“The objective is to cause confusion”
Assessment: “of the 272 subjects analyzed, the pain after the sting was lower in the hypnosis group compared to the second and third groups”, write the researchers. “While anxiety was higher and comfort lower before the infusion in the hypnosis group, anxiety decreased and perception of comfort increased after the sting when hypnosis was used,” they specify.
“The objective is to cause confusion”, concludes in Science and Future Dr. Fusco, intensive care anesthetist at the University Hospital of Rennes, director of research. “What is recommended is to choose the words according to what we feel with each patient by going to meet him and talking with him, as soon as we are in front of him, even before the realization of the gesture, in order to to personalize the message to make it more effective”. Three different hospitals were contacted for the study: Rennes University Hospital, Saint Grégoire Hospital and Saint Luc Hospital in Brussels.
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