Background and Problem Description

Among the routine procedures, probably the most common one in both outpatient and hospital are the intravenous (IV) catheter insertions. Even though it is a standard operation, a large number of patients go through significant pain, discomfort, anxiety, and procedural fear. These negative views can impact not only patient compliance and overall satisfaction but also their trust in the healthcare service.

Topical anesthetics, especially the EMLA, are very effective in lowering the pain that is felt during minor interventions as drawing blood, performing small skin operations, and putting a needle into an intravenous line. Though there is strong evidence to support this claim, topical anesthesia is still infrequently used in some areas of the clinic. Among the reasons for this are: limited time resources, a lack of standardized protocols, untrained personnel, and a long-standing belief that the pain of cannulation is either very small or unavoidable.

The main aim of this Quality Improvement (QI) project is to find out if the routine use of topical anesthesia prior to IV cannulation will lead to a decrease in patient-reported pain and an increase in staff experience in the course of treatments performed in the Health Center's treatment rooms.

Dr. Teeba Salwan Abbood

Family Medicine Department, Local Primary Care Centre