This is a simple little technique and I'm always surprised at how few nurses have been taught a great trick to ease the discomfort of needle sticks.  And I mean any needle stick, from lancets, to IVs, and everything in between.  If you use this little tip, you'll find you have a lot less complaints about these invasive procedures.

Primer:  Have you ever gotten alcohol in a cut?  Remember how badly it burns!  Well that's the whole premise behind this little trick.  When you prep a site for a needle puncture, most policies call for an alcohol swab to be applied to the area.

Technique:  Before proceeding with the needle puncture, allow the alcohol to dry completely.

Most nurses and other healthcare clinicians fail to wait for the alcohol to dry.  Subsequently, when you puncture the skin with the alcohol still present, you add the pain of burning alcohol in a wound to the needle stick discomfort.

Additionally, the alcohol will not peak in its antisepsis until the alcohol has dried completely.  So this technique will also decrease the likelihood of infection at the injection site.

Now this many sound stupid, but I'd almost feel remiss if I didn't say:  "Don't blow on or fan the alcohol to make it dry faster".  Yes, this technique will add some number of seconds to the procedure, but that's all.  Try it, you may find it's well worth your time.

While I've never done any formal research using pain scales, I can tell you anecdotally, patients have always told me I give really good shots.  Now to tell the whole truth, I also use a little humor when doing a needle stick The conversation goes something like this:

Me:  "Okay, you're going to feel a little stick.  You know why we call it a little stick?"

Patient:  "Why"

Me:  "Because it's your skin not mine!"

With that, the patient usually giggles or laughs, that's when they get the stick.  The mind is a powerful pain reliever, and if it's diverted away from the pain, the pain perception is reduced.  This has been studied and is a well accepted fact in pain management. 

About the Author Pat is the founder of Nurse-Recruiter.com.  With a background of more than 20 years clinical nursing experience and as a Internet nurse-entrepreneur for the past five years, he has an extensive knowledge of our profession and how the Internet is a growing and invaluable resource to our peers.  Pat's latest offering is The NursingBar, a free downloadable program that helps nurses to maximize their use of the Internet.  The program attaches itself to your web browser giving you a built in nursing search engine, direct links to dozens of the most used nursing websites on the Internet and a PWA (personal web assistant) that allows you to keep on private or public online calendar, to-do list, favorite links, files, contact management, and notes.  You can check out this latest offering by going to www.nursingbar.com.