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Dr. Numb for Cannulations/IV
Patients fear the unknown, what the surgeon may find and the anticipated pain. When talking with patients pre-operatively, one recurring theme seems to surface – fear of the intravenous (IV) cannulation. It is common to help decrease the pain associated with peripheral IV cannulation by giving a subcutaneous injection of 1% lidocaine. Eventhough the use of lidcaine has greatly decreased the pain associated with the IV cathether insertion, many patients complain about the burning associated with lidocaine administration. Many patients have requested that their IV’s be started without using lidocaine, because they feel that the burning associated with the lidocaine injection is worse than the discomfort of the IV cathether insertion.DrNumb cream is a 1:1 combination of 5% lidocaine and 5% prilocaine. DrNumb cream is a local anesthetic that when applied topically, for a recommended 45 minutes to 1 hour, has provided adequate analgesia for minor procedures, such as IV cannulation, intramuscular injections. Currently, DrNumb cream is used routinely in the preoperative area for pediatric patients. DrNumb is applied on the back of the hands of children at admission, for preparation of the IV site after the patient is anesthetized by inhalation induction. DrNumb has been used routinely for adults before IV cannulation because of the length of time recommended for application, 45 minutes to an hour.
The “Numby stuff” system is a noninvasive, needle free method of providing local anesthetic that was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the use on adult and pediatric patients.