CIDRAP-Updated guideline provides advice for reducing pain, fear during vaccination

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Updated guideline provides advice for reducing pain, fear during vaccination

www.cidrap.umn.edu

Updated guideline provides advice for reducing pain, fear during vaccination​

Meghan Holohan

36 minutes ago.
Childhood Vaccines

Adult (non-flu) Vaccines


For many children—and some adults—vaccination feels scary and stressful. A revised guideline published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) provides recommendations on how to make the situation less distressing.

“Fear and pain—together referred to as distress—are among the most common negative effects of vaccine injections,” Anna Taddio, PhD, of the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children and lead author of the paper, said in in a CMAJ press release. “Research shows there are effective ways to reduce distress, but these strategies are still not routinely built into vaccination programs or practices, even though clinical guidelines recommend them.”

Promoting relaxation, providing comfort​

For the Help Eliminating Pain in Kids and Adults (HELP) 2026 recommendations, last updated in 2015, researchers used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) method to design the questions and understand the results.
The goal is to make vaccination a more positive experience, reduce fear, and help people feel more comfortable getting vaccines in the future.
Anna Taddio, PhD
This led to the creation of the 5Ps—process, procedural, physical, pharmacologic, and psychological—as the architecture for the guidance.

The advice includes:

• Process: Teaching everyone involved in the vaccination process, including those who administer the vaccines and those who receive them, about tailoring interventions to reduce stress to each patient.
• Procedural: Using less invasive or faster techniques such as rapid injections to reduce the fear and pain associated with immunization.
• Physical: Offering breastfeeding or pacifiers to infants prior to vaccination to provide extra comfort. Giving oral immunizations, when available, also makes immunization less stressful.
• Pharmacologic: Providing topical pain medication for all patients makes vaccines less painful.
• Psychological: Using toys, singing, music, games, phones, toys, or other methods to distract children receiving a vaccine helps with relaxation.

The authors encourage clinicians and patients to consider the methods that might work best prior to and during immunization.

“The guideline provides new research-based tools and practical strategies to help health system leaders, health care providers, people receiving vaccines, and those supporting them improve the vaccination experience,” said Taddio. “The goal is to make vaccination a more positive experience, reduce fear, and help people feel more comfortable getting vaccines in the future.”