Authors

1Ana Martínez de Guereñu Ortuoste, 2Amaia Sáenz de Ormijana Hernández

Position

¹Diplomada en Enfermería. Hospital de Txagorritxu, Osakidetza, Vitoria-Gasteiz.²Diplomada en Enfermería. Hospital Basurto, Vizkaya.

Contact address

C/ Castillo de Lantarón, 18, 4º Izq. 01007 Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Contact email: a.guerenu@euskalnet.net

Abstract

Objective: to determine the use of subcutaneous local anaesthetics
in arterial puncture and their efficacy by performing a review of the literature.
Material and method: an unrestricted bibliographic search of the literature was carried out using Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) as well as the Cochran Library databases, with the following search terms: “arterial puncture” and “anaesthesia”.
Results: eight papers were selected, of which only five were related to the subject of this study. The year of publication of these five papers stretched from 1995 to 2002. The review showed that the use of subcutaneous anaesthetics prior to the puncture had already proven to be effective back in the 80’s and 90’s in pain reduction and in other negative subjective experiences associated with pain.
Conclusions: the studies reviewed are of an adequate scientific quality for the practical implementation of the results and show the effectiveness of infiltrating local anaesthetics prior to the arterial puncture for pain reduction. There is dissociation between the recommendations given from the theoretical scientific community and the real clinical practice. These divergences and their relationship with routine clinical scenarios permit one to reflect on the subject and to discuss their implications in the quality level of nursing care in respect of the technique used in arterial puncture.

Keywords:

arterial puncture; pain; anaesthesia; local anaesthetics; protocolsguidelines

Versión en Español

Título:

La utilización de anestesia local infiltrada en la punción arterial