Dulshanie Silva

Central Gippsland Health, Australia

Abstract Title:

Pain management practice in venipuncture among children: Experience from a single center study in Sri Lanka

Biography:

Dr Dulshanie Silva has completed her fellowship in pediatrics and child health at Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Australia, and her MD pediatrics in university of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Currently she is attached to Central Gippsland Health service, Australia as a Consultant General Pediatrician. Developmental pediatrics and pediatric diabetes are her fields of special interests.

Research Interests:

Introduction: Venipuncture is the most common and feared painful experience in hospitalized children. Objectives: To assess the venipuncture pain (VP) status and associated factors among children admitted to pediatric units in Teaching Hospital Galle, Sri Lanka. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 300 children aged 2 months to 8 years, who underwent venipuncture in above setting in 2021. Data were collected by direct observation of the procedure and by administering a questionnaire to primary caregivers. Pain scores were documented using the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry and CONSOL ability (FLACC) pain scoring system on an ordinal scale (0-10). The median pain scores among groups were compared using Mann Whitney U test. The level of significance was considered as 0.05. Results: Of the observed 300 venipunctures, 71(23.6%) were blood samples and 229 (76.3%) were intravenous annulations. The median (IQR) VP score was 6 (2). There was zero practice of assessment and documentation of VP using a pain scale. The practice of multimodal pain management (MPM) was observed only in 9 (3%), while 24 (8%) children did not receive any VP management. Two hundred and sixty (86.7%) parents were not satisfied with existing pain management, while 239 (79.7%).