title: Effects of parental presence during children's venipuncture.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether parental presence during venipuncture (VP) altered self-reported distress of the child, the parent, or the health professional (HP) performing VP.
  
  
  METHODS
  During nine consecutive months, 130 nonconsecutive 8-18-year-old children having VP in an urban pediatric ED were prospectively randomized into two groups of 65 patients each. Before VP, every child, parent, and HP completed a questionnaire developed to measure epidemiologic variables believed to influence distress during VP. The patients were randomized to have either a parent present or both parents absent during VP. The patients, the parents, and the HPs privately self-reported their distress during VP on a visual analog scale (VAS). Statistical significance was determined by the Mann-Whitney U (rank-sum) test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the parent-present group, distress scores were lower for the parent (p < 0.01) and for the child (p < 0.04) than they were in the parents-absent group. The HP performing VP had no difference in distress scores with and without parental presence (p < 0.55).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parents and children having VP have less distress with parental presence. Health professional distress is not affected by parental presence.
authors: Division of Emergency Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, USA.
authors: R W
authors: RW
authors: Wolfram
authors: E D
authors: ED
authors: Turner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011446:Prospective Studies