Decreasing Pain in Hospitalized Patients by Increasing Topical Anesthetic Use for Peripheral IVs.

Introduction: Venous access is a common source of pain for hospitalized patients. Topical anesthetics are effective at decreasing needle pain, can improve success rate, and decrease procedure time; however, use before peripheral intravenous line (PIV) placement is inconsistent. The aim was to reduce pain experienced by hospitalized pediatric patients by increasing topical anesthetic use for PIV placement from a mean of 11% to 40% within 6 months.