Will Patients Perceive a Numbing Spray to Be an Effective Method of Anesthetizing an Intravenous Site?

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if patients would perceive a numbing spray to be an effective method of anesthetizing an intravenous (IV) site.

DESIGN: A quasi-experimental design was used.

METHODS: The first 50 patients were given no pain management strategy before their IV insertion, and the next 50 patients were given a numbing spray.

FINDINGS: The hypothesis that pain scores reported from the numbing spray group would be less than pain scores reported from the non-numbing spray group was not supported.

CONCLUSION: The numbing spray is an effective method of anesthetizing an IV site based on both groups' responses to the other research questions. Both groups indicated they would try a numbing spray with future IV insertions, would prefer a numbing spray over a numbing injection, and were satisfied with their IV insertion. Patients wanted a less intrusive method than intradermal lidocaine.