Comparison of the Effects of Hugo’s Point Massage and Play on IV-Line Placement Pain in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Reduction of intravenous line placement pain is one of the most important nursing priorities in the pediatric wards. The present study was aimed at comparing the effect of Hugo’s point massage and play on the severity of IV-line placement pain in hospitalized children aged 3–6 years in the pediatric ward. 72 children were selected and assigned randomly to three groups, i.e., control, play, and Hugo point massage. In the massage group, the middle angle between the first and second bones of the palm of the opposite hand was massaged, and the playgroup encouraged bubble-making play. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) did not show a statistically significant difference between the mean IV-line placement pain in play, Hugo’s point, and control groups before interventions (p=0.838; p>0.05). However, the ANOVA test revealed a significant difference between the mean IV-line placement pain in play, Hugo’s point, and control groups after the interventions (p=0.006; p