Decreasing children's distress during medical procedures

Medical fears are common in children and can have long-term implications for future attitudes toward health care. Providing accurate information about an impending medical procedure can help the inexperienced child prepare for a painful or unpleasant medical experience and ultimately adapt to the experience more rapidly. The main strategies for providing developmentally appropriate medical information to children are reviewed, and common errors made by parents and medical staff are highlighted. However, anxious children who have already experienced difficult or painful medical procedures are unlikely to be helped by additional information. Distraction, relaxation, and imagery techniques specifically designed for such children who already have developed medical phobias are reviewed. The importance of parents and other adults as “coaches” for children during stressful medical procedures is addressed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.