years old children admitted to hospitals of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2013

Venous catheter placement is one of the most common invasive procedures performed by nurses. Prevention and relief of pain in children is of great importance. This study aimed to determine the effects of EMLA cream on pain of venipuncture in 6-12 year old hospitalized children. This study was a randomized clinical trial on children admitted to hospitals of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2013. The 80 hospitalized children were randomly divided into intervention and control groups (40 children in each group). In the intervention group, 45-60 minutes before venipuncture, EMLA creams and dressing was applied, and in the control group, routine venipuncture was performed. Pain intensity was measured in both groups using a numeric scale of pain and pain behavior scale during venipuncture and 5 minutes after venipuncture. Data were analyzed by using chi-square, fisher’s exact test, and mann-whitney test in SPSS18. The results of this study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in the intensity of pain during venipuncture between the two groups (P < 0.001). The mean pain intensity based on the numerical scale (intervention group: 3.45 ± 1.69; control group: 8.65 ± 1.5) and behavioral scale (intervention group: 2.75 ± 1.4; control group: 7.75 ± 1.6) was lower in the intervention group than the control group. The use of EMLA cream reduces the pain of venipuncture in children to a tolerable level.