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• "When someone stabs you" - more detail requested.
  Andrew W McNinch
  Published on: 25 June 2009

• Published on: 25 June 2009

  "When someone stabs you" - more detail requested.

  • Andrew W McNinch, Consultant Paediatrician

  The article documenting children's perspectives of venepuncture in words and drawings is certainly thought-provoking but would be more compelling (and more useful in several ways) if the authors could give as much as possible of the following extra information: the median age of the cohort of 37 children; how the 37 were selected (the implication that they all found venepuncture 'extremely distressing' begs further explana...

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  The article documenting children's perspectives of venepuncture in words and drawings is certainly thought-provoking but would be more compelling (and more useful in several ways) if the authors could give as much as possible of the following extra information: the median age of the cohort of 37 children; how the 37 were selected (the implication that they all found venepuncture 'extremely distressing' begs further explanation); the ages (median and range)of the 24 who found venepuncture 'worse than anything they could imagine'; the ages of the children whose comments are quoted and of those who made the drawings; the proportions of the cohort (with respective ages, range and median) who had analgesia (documenting the types, if possible) or none; the proportion in which a parent was present at the time of venepuncture; any information about the experience of the individuals carrying out the procedures. I would not, in any way, want to weaken the overall message that venepuncture is upsetting to children, sometimes horribly so - instead I hope that further data will significantly strengthen that important message.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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