Comparing Pain and Fear Experiences in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Venipuncture and Cannulation Procedures: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Venipuncture and cannulation are common yet distressing procedures for children in healthcare settings. While both are known to cause significant pain and fear, prior research has examined them in isolation, leaving a critical gap: no study has directly compared the distress profiles of these two procedures. This study aimed to directly assess and compare the levels of pain and fear reported by pediatric patients undergoing venipuncture versus cannulation.

METHODS

This prospective cross-sectional study compared pain and fear levels among 298 pediatric patients aged 6-12 years who underwent venipuncture or cannulation at a pediatric teaching hospital. Pain was assessed using the Wong-Baker FACES pain rating scale, and fear was measured with the Children's fear scale (CFS); the number of procedure attempts and duration were also recorded.

RESULTS

Patients in the cannulation group experienced significantly higher mean pain scores during (7.09 vs. 6.55, p = 0.012) and after (7.12 vs. 6.65, p = 0.029) the procedure than those in the venipuncture group. Fear levels were also elevated in the cannulation group during (3.16 vs. 2.82, p < 0.001) and after (3.12 vs. 2.77, p < 0.001) the procedures. Cannulation was associated with more procedure attempts (1.61 vs. 1.42, p < 0.001) and longer durations (5.06 vs. 4.11 min, p < 0.001) than venipuncture.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that pediatric patients experience significantly greater pain and fear during cannulation procedures than during venipuncture procedures, which may be related to variations in invasiveness, anatomical location, procedure duration, and number of attempts required.