The Use of Verbal Expectancy in Reducing Pain Associated with Arteriotomies

Abstract

Hospitalized patients (n = 25) receiving arteriotomies were given one of two verbal instructions one hour apart prior to each incision. In the first arteriotomy, the right radial artery was prepped with alcohol without mention and administered non-expectancy instruction-A, “You may or may not feel pain, everyone is different.” One hour later, prior to the second incision, prepping the left radial artery with alcohol was brought to the patient's attention while providing expectancy instruction-B, “Notice how cool this feels, it's interesting how coldness numbs the skin.” Analysis of variance revealed that administration of expectancy instruction-B significantly reduced pain (p value, <.005, determined by paired t-test) associated with arteriotomies.