The Use of ShotBlocker for Reducing the Pain and Anxiety Associated With Intramuscular Injection

Abstract

There are few studies evaluating the effect of ShotBlocker on pain acquired from intramuscular injection, and these are mostly in children. We hypothesized that the use of ShotBlocker, while administering an intramuscular injection, would reduce the pain and anxiety due to intramuscular injection in adults. A randomized, placebo controlled trial was carried out for more than 20 months in 2010-2011 on 180 adults aged 18 to 80 years who received intramuscular injections of diclofenac sodium (75 mg/3 mL) at the outpatient clinic of a hospital. The patients were grouped into 3 groups: control, placebo control, and experimental. The experimental group was given an intramuscular injection of diclofenac sodium with ShotBlocker. Pain intensity was measured through a visual analog scale after the injection and anxiety was measured using Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Pulse rate was counted and state and trait anxiety was measured before and after the injection. The Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon and Kruskall-Wallis tests were used to evaluate the data. Patients in the ShotBlocker group had significantly lower pain intensity than those in the placebo and control groups. State anxiety level increased after the injection in the experimental group but did not change in the other 2 groups. ShotBlocker did not affect the pulse rate. Our results suggest that using ShotBlocker during intramuscular injection reduced patients' pain intensity because of injection but did not reduce anxiety levels. Thus, ShotBlocker is recommended as a pain-relieving tool during intramuscular injection in adults.

Systematic review and meta‐analysis: Physical‐procedural interventions used to reduce pain during intramuscular injections in adults

“…The five RCTs (Barnhill et al, ; Çelik & Khorshid, ; Kara & Yapucu Güneş, ; Rock, ; Yilmaz, Khorshid, et al, ) provided detailed information about the randomization process. These studies had low random sequence generation bias; bias with the other study was unclear (Table ).…”

“…Five studies (Alavi, ; Barnhill et al, ; Çelik & Khorshid, ; Chung et al, ; Yilmaz, Khorshid, et al, ) had high‐risk levels of bias. In one study, there was no blinding of the patients and personnel (Alavi, ).…”

“…The ShotBlocker, invented by James Huttner, is another tool to reduce pain at the IM injection site (ShotBlocker, http://www.bionix.com). Çelik and Khorshid’s () results suggested that the ShotBlocker can be considered a pain‐relieving tool for IM injections. A study that examined the effectiveness of air‐lock use has revealed that the usage of air‐lock causes less pain (Yilmaz, Dikmen, et al, ).…”

Effect of Family Presence on Pain and Anxiety Levels among Patients during Invasive Nursing Procedures in an Emergency Department

“…The VAS is the most widely used (one-dimensional) tool for measuring pain around the world [24]) using a straight 10-cm line representing the words "no pain" at the left-most end and "worst pain imaginable" at the right-most end. The patients mark this line according to the extent of their pain, and then a numerical representation of their pain severity is determined by measuring the distance between the left-most end and the point where the patients have marked [25]. This tool has been widely used in national and international studies and its validity and reliability have been demonstrated [12].…”

Comparison of skin traction, pressure, and rapid muscle release with conventional method on intramuscular injection pain: A randomized clinical trial

“…Since IM injection pain results from damage to the tissue and is one of the most common complications of IM injection, it should not be underestimated. [ 3 5 6 7 ] Although many studies have addressed pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods of IM pain reduction,[ 6 ] research continues to find more effective techniques to reduce it. [ 8 ] Since applying new techniques of IM injection and creating an enjoyable experience are of the ethical and legal duties of nurses,[ 5 ] gaining skill in injection based on most recent studies has long been considered by nursing science.…”