Topical Xylocaine Spray for Reducing the Pain of Venipuncture in Neonates

The object of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of topical anesthetic spray as an analgesic for placement of intravenous catheter in newborns. Forty newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit or intermediate care unit were included in this study. They were randomly assigned to the study group (n=20) and the control group (n=20). The newborns in the study group had pain relief intervention in addition to the use of conventional pacifier and swaddling before placement of the peripheral intravenous catheter, and the newborns in the control group, they only had the pacifier and swaddling. The pain relief intervention we used was a 10% Xylocaine pump spray on the puncture site 5 minutes before the procedure. Data included heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation minutes before venipuncture, at the time of venipuncture, and at 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes after venipuncture were collected. The results showed that the newborn infants in the study group had lower heart rate and oxygen saturation changes than infants in the control group. The study indicated that pain relief intervention with 10% Xylocaine spray on to the puncture site before intravenous catheterization might be very helpful.