Comparison of the Effects of Visual and Auditory Distractions on Fistula Cannulation Pain among Older Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Pain associated with fistula cannulation is a challenge for nurses who provide care to older patients undergoing hemodialysis. Several non-pharmacological methods have been suggested for relieving fistula cannulation pain, but the benefits of visual and auditory distraction methods among older patients undergoing hemodialysis have not been investigated yet. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of visual and auditory distractions on fistula cannulation pain among older patients undergoing hemodialysis. This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 120 older patients undergoing hemodialysis. They were randomly assigned to three groups of visual distraction, auditory distraction, and the control (n = 40 in each group) using a simple random assignment method. The distraction interventions continued for three consecutive sessions and the numeric rating scale of pain severity was used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis using SPSS. It was found that pain severity significantly reduced after the distraction interventions in either the auditory or visual distraction groups and also after all three distraction sessions (p = 0.001). However, visual distraction had a better effect on the reduction of pain severity. Therefore, while both visual and auditory distractions reduced pain severity in older patients undergoing hemodialysis, visual distraction was more effective. Nurses are encouraged to incorporate visual distraction as a safe and non-pharmacologic technique into routine nursing care for reducing older patients’ suffering and improving their wellbeing when fistula cannulation is performed.