Trypanophobia or fear of needles remains to be one of the most common reason why people do not donate blood. Is there available medical methods or alternative ways that will lessen the pain of blood transfusion to help patients with this condition?
Bon Secours. (2022, February 21). How to Confront Common Fears of Donating Blood | Bon Secours Blog. Bon Secours Blog. https://blog.bonsecours.com/healthy/confronting-common-blood-donation-fears/
Trypanophobia plays a huge impact in delivering quality healthcare to patients. With patients who suffer from this, they tend to avoid health care as much as possible which can interfere with blood donations or immunizations. As Medical technologists, we must first identify and establish if the patient has Trypanophobia. Once we identified it, we should employ and mitigate a number of techniques to help lessen the fear or even the pain. Patients should be treated with outmost care and compassion throughout the process. The following can be considered to help lessen the pain or fear of the patient:
1) Have the patient lie flat or tilt the chair. The legs of the patient should be above their head when receiving the needle. This assists in bringing more blood towards the brain to prevent syncope.
2) To lessen the pain, the patient can be given a topical product to numb the puncture site. Examples of which are Lidocaine gels and creams. It could help lessen pain which can trigger vasovagal reflex.
3) Anxiolytics like Benzodiazepines and sedative hypnotics like Zolpidem could also be used as our pharmacologic approach.
Stacey Ness, P. D. (n.d.). Trypanophobia: Helping patients deal with fear of Needles. Pharmacy Times. Retrieved February 23, 2023, from https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/trypanophobia-helping-patients-deal-with-fear-of-needles