J Korean Acad Adult Nurs.  2003 Mar;15(1):14-21.

A Comparison on the Level of Pain Related to Methods of Blood Sugar test using VAS

• Choi JY
• Jang KS
• Kim HO
• Choi OY
• Park MH

Abstract

PUPPOSE: The purpose of this study is to determine the level of pain related to a blood sugar test. Specifically, the study attempts to compare the varying degree of pains when different types of blood sugar test are used. METHOD: A sample of 56 subjects is composed of DM patients admitted to a medical ward of C university hospital in Gwangju. Data were collected from July, 2001 to December, 2001. The blood sugar tests were administered in four different ways: (1) the use of 27G needle only, (2) the use of 27G needle followed by ice-packed treatment, (3) the use of 27G needle after EMLA cream application, and (4) the use of lancet. The degree of pain is measured with a visual analogue scale and performed twice. RESULT: In both measures, the use of 27G needle only method is shown to cause the highest level of pain in comparison with the rest of methods (F=4.01, p=.01; F=8.14, p=.00). However, the differences in pain between time in all methods were not found to be significant (t=-.85, p=.40; t=.80, p=.42; t=.31, p=.75; t=.19, p=.85).
CONCLUSION
The study results indicate that the method using lanceter is more recommendable than the use of 27G needle only method. Further research is needed to support the current study result with the use of different measurement scales and to determine effective methods of blood sugar test to lower pain and compliance.

Keyword

Pain; Blood glucose; Pain measurement

MeSH Terms

Blood Glucose*
Compliance
Gwangju
Humans
Needles
Pain Measurement
Weights and Measures
Blood Glucose