Vapocoolant (Pain Ease Medium Stream) for Intravenous Lines in Emergency Department Patients

Vapocoolant sprays have been used to decrease the pain associated with painful medical procedures such as immunizations, needle aspirations, injections, venipuncture and intravenous cannulation. In general, vapocoolant sprays , have been found to be effective in decreasing the pain of various medical procedures. Moreover, the use of vapocoolant sprays ,unlike other local anesthetics , such as infiltrative lidocaine , is not associated with a painful injection and does affect the success rate of the procedure including intravenous cannulation and may even increase the success rate of the intravenous cannulation.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients needing intravenous cannulation
• Adults age 18 years equal or greater than.
• Stable patient
• Mentally competent patient able to understand the consent form

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with any allergies to the spray components ( e.g.1,1,3,3, pentafluoropropane or 1,1,1,2 tetrafluoroethane )
• Critically ill or unstable patient (e.g. sepsis or shock)
• Infants and children of age , <18 years.
• Pregnant
• Intravenous cannulation site located in area of compromised blood supply. (ex: patients with Peripheral Vascular Disease , Raynaud's disease, gangrene, Buerger's disease)
• Intravenous cannulation site located in area of insensitive skin; such as , patients with a peripheral neuropathy including diabetic neuropathy.
• Patient intolerant of cold or with hypersensitivity to the cold.
• Patient unable or unwilling to give consent.