The effect of two different lancets and heel warming on duration of crying and procedure time during blood sampling: A randomized controlled study

Abstract Objective The study was performed to investigate the effect of two different lancets and heel warming during blood sampling from the heel on procedure duration and crying. Methods This was a randomized controlled trial study. The data were obtained from the Newborn Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Istanbul between January 2015 and January 2016. One hundred twenty newborns were randomly assigned to four groups — automatic lancet with/without warming and manual lancet with/without warming. The newborns were administered heel puncture for routine blood bilirubin monitoring. Result There was no statistically significant difference between the four groups in terms of the characteristics that could affect the outcome of the study. The infants in the manual lancet group without warming were found to have longer duration of crying and longer procedure durations than the other groups. The procedure durations of infants in the manual lancet group with warming were significantly longer than those in the automatic lancet group with warming. Conclusion This study show that both heel warming and using automatic lancet are effective in reducing the durations of the procedure and crying during blood sampling from the heel.