Fan-Assisted Local Cooling for Pain During Intravenous Cannulation in Adults

Summary

Inserting an intravenous (IV) cannula is one of the most frequently performed procedures in clinical practice, and it is commonly experienced as painful. Before the needle is inserted, the skin is routinely cleaned with alcohol. As alcohol evaporates it cools the skin, and cooled skin is less sensitive to pain. This study examined whether accelerating that evaporation with a simple portable hand fan reduces the pain of IV cannulation.

One hundred volunteers aged 18 to 65 years who required elective IV cannulation took part in the emergency department of a tertiary care city hospital. Each participant underwent two cannulations, one in each arm, within a single session. On one arm the skin was prepared with 70% isopropyl alcohol in the usual way. On the other arm the same alcohol was applied and the site was then fanned for 15 seconds with a portable hand fan before the needle was inserted. The order of the two arms was assigned randomly, so each participant served as their own comparison.

Within 30 seconds of each cannulation, participants rated their pain on a 0 to 10 numeric scale. The assessor who recorded these scores did not know which arm had received the fan. The researchers also recorded whether the vein was entered on the first attempt, any skin irritation at 5 and 30 minutes, and, after both cannulations were completed, how satisfied participants were with the fan-assisted method.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether this low-cost, drug-free method can make IV cannulation less painful without making it harder to place the cannula.

Conditions

• Procedural Pain
• Acute Pain
• Peripheral Intravenous Catheterization

Interventions

OTHER

Fan-assisted local cooling

The cannulation site was cleaned with 2 mL of 70% isopropyl alcohol as part of standard aseptic preparation, immediately followed by 15 seconds of fanning with a portable hand fan (medium setting, airflow approximately 3 m/s) directed at the site from a distance of 10 to 15 cm, timed with a stopwatch. Cannulation was then performed with a standard 20G catheter in the antecubital fossa by a single emergency nurse with at least two years of experience. In both arms 70% isopropyl alcohol was used as routine aseptic preparation; the arms differed only in the addition of forced-air fanning.

OTHER

Standard alcohol skin preparation

The skin over the selected vein was cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol and allowed to dry passively, without fanning, before needle insertion. This represents routine institutional practice and served as the comparator condition.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Antalya Health Sciences University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Taha Yaşar Kiraz, MD · Antalya City Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-09-15

Primary Completion

2026-02-01

Completion

2026-02-01

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations