Efficacy of Topical Anesthesia Cream in Reducing the Pain Associated with Intravenous Cannulation

Pain is the unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. Early pain experiences due to IV cannulation, may play a vital role in shaping an individuals pain response. Though, adequate pain relief during IV cannulation, using topical anesthetics is a growing practice as health care providers, striving for pain free and pleasant hospital stay for patients, in India its use has been limited, hence the researcher is interested to assess the effectiveness of topical anesthesia on pain experience among patients undergoing intravenous cannulation. From the results of the current study it could be concluded that, using the topical anesthesia Lidocaine before IV cannulation is effective in reducing the patients pain, and develops no allergic reaction. The aim of this study is divided into two parts as to determine and compare the level of pain during intravenous cannulation among experimental and control groups and to associate their level of pain with the selected demographic variables among experimental and control group. Research design Experimental design was adopted to conduct the current study where two groups pre-test post-test design was used. Tool Collecting data among patients admitted in different multi-specialty hospitals in Tamilnadu. The investigator obtained the written permission from the authorities to conduct the study. For the experimental group five minutes before the first attempt of IV cannulation, Lidocaine cream was applied on the preferred site, and for the control group, without topical application of Lidocaine, the first IV cannulation was performed. The patients in both group were asked to rate their pain perception using the standard pain assessment scale rating from 0 to 10. The effectiveness of Lidocaine cream was compared by the pain scores between two groups. Conclusion It could be concluded that, using the topical anesthesia Lidocaine before IV cannulation is effective in reducing the patients pain, and develops no allergic reaction.