Can a Postnatal Hospital-Based Program Improve Pain Mitigation at Vaccination?

Many parents are distressed by the pain associated with vaccinations during infancy. A Canadian randomized controlled trial assessed whether an educational program could increase parents' use of three pain mitigation techniques (breast-feeding, providing sucrose solutions, or placing topical anesthesia). Parents of 2540 infants were assigned to one of three interventions: Group 1 (controls) received a general immunization pamphlet and video; group 2 received the general information plus a pain pamphlet; group 3 received the general information plus both the pain pamphlet and a pain mitigation video. The educational information was provided at discharge from the newborn unit, and parents were reminded to review the material 1 week prior to t…