Lidocaine Lubricant in Pediatric Urethral Catheterization
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
In Emergency Departments (ED) across the nation there is renewed interest in finding ways to
alleviate the pain and discomfort associated with many of the procedures that children must
undergo. In a policy by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a nationally recognized advocate
for children, physicians are urged to advocate for child-specific research in pain management
and the effective use of pain medication to ensure compassionate and competent management of
pain. (AAP Statement, 2001) Pediatric urethral catheterizations are one such procedure in
which children experience significant pain.(11) In present care, children over 2 months of
age do not routinely receive intervention for urethral catheterization related anxiety and
pain, and, anecdotal reports suggest that most require physical restraint to complete the
procedure. Lidocaine is an anesthetic agent that provides relief from pain during many
commonly performed ED procedures. Intraurethral Lidocaine has been shown to decrease pain
associated with urethral catheter placement in cystograms, however, Lidocaine is not
routinely used for urethral catheterizations in the CHOA ED.
This study aims to investigate the potential use of Lidocaine as an anesthetic agent during
urethral catheterization of children. Recently, two specific studies were performed
investigating the use of Lidocaine to decrease discomfort associated with urethral
catheterization. Using the strengths of both previously published studies, our study will use
Lidocaine both topically and instilled into the urethra. Investigators plan to perform a
prospective three-arm double-blinded randomized clinical trial investigating the
effectiveness of Lidocaine jelly as a analgesic when used as a lubricant for urinary
catheterization. Investigators aim to demonstrate that Lidocaine used as a lubricant
anesthetic for urethral catheterization will provide a safe, time-efficient, and relatively
easy way to decrease pediatric pain in the emergency department setting.