Rapid Injection Technique Without Aspiration

Study Design; This was an experimental, single-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Study Population and Study Sample; The study was conducted in Turkey, in a family health center (FHC) in Central Anatolia Region. The population of the study consisted of the nursing students (n:125) of the faculty of health sciences who had to be tetanus-vaccinated as a protective measure before the clinical practice. Sample selection was not performed in the study and the whole population was tried to be reached. However, as 53 students were vaccinated before and 2 students used a painkiller before the vaccination, the sample of the study consisted of a total of 70 students.

The distributions of the students, who came to the family health center for the vaccination and were in accordance with the inclusion criteria, to the intervention group in which the rapid injection technique without aspiration was applied and the control group in which no intervention were applied by the simple randomized method. The papers with the same color and folding shape that represented the two study groups were put into a cloth bag. In order to provide the randomized distribution and reduce all the negative effects, the required explanation was made to the individuals to be vaccinated and they were requested to pull a paper randomly from the bag. In this way, the groups were balanced and totally 35 students were included in each group.

The personal information form was filled for each individual, who came to the FHC for the vaccination and agreed to participate in the study, before the procedure. The tetanus vaccine was applied into the deltoid muscle of the left arm in the sitting position in both the intervention and the control groups in the vaccination room. All the vaccines were made by a single researcher in order to eliminate the vaccination differences.

Outcome Measures Pain Level; As the study was a single-blind trial, the pain assessment was performed by another nurse, in the second minute after the injection, using the numerical pain rating scale, in order to provide neutrality. The nurse was informed by the researcher about the use of the scale. The nurses had no conflict of interest.

Inclusion criteria

• healthy students,
• who did not take any painkiller before the vaccination,
• agreed to participate in the study and gave verbal consent were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• the individuals with pain and/or acute pyretic disease,
• who underwent topical anesthesia and/or used any painkillers were excluded from the study.