Helping phlebotomists ease pediatric patient anxiety

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Amy Carpenter Aquino

June 2017—“It’s the most talked about pain kids experience, even more so than post-op surgical pain.”

Julie Piazza, a certified child life specialist, is referring to needlestick pain from pediatric blood draws. As project manager for patient and family-centered care at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in the University of Michigan health system, now known as Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, Piazza has observed anxiety at both ends of the needle.