Evaluating venepuncture practice on a general children's ward.

Aim: To assess the training for, practice of, and effects of venepuncture in children on a general children's ward. To identify approaches that might reduce the adverse physical and psychological effects related to venepuncture.

Methods: Questionnaire survey of 51 parents, 39 children and 72 junior doctors following venepuncture in the children. Telephone survey of 25 paediatric senior house officers on venous access training.

Results: Parents and children assessed venepuncture as extremely distressing. Parents' assessments of the mean number of venepuncture attempts were markedly higher than those of the doctors surveyed. When carrying out venepuncture, doctors used therapeutic measures much less frequently than expected. Only seven of the 25 departments surveyed offered any training in venepuncture.

Conclusion: Venepuncture is consistently one of the most distressing aspects of hospital admission for children. Much could be done to alleviate this, but trainir patchy and interventions shown to reduce distress are not uniformly used.