Ms LISA HOYLE1, Nikita Kirkcaldy1, Marcé Pienaar1
1RENAL SERVICE, COUNTIES MANUKAU DISTRICT – TE WHATU ORA/HEALTH NEW ZEALAND, Auckland, Aotearoa / New Zealand
Biography:
Lisa Hoyle is a Consultant Health Psychologist working at Counties Manukau District – Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand. She has been working in the Renal and Diabetes Services for nearly two decades. She is on the Executive Committee for New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes and has held various leadership and management roles alongside her clinical role at Counties. Lisa lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with her whānau.
Abstract:
Needle anxiety, distress and phobia (hereafter collectively referred to as needle anxiety) are common in healthcare and have significant impacts on a person’s ability to manage their health. It is estimated that 25-47% of people living with end-stage-renal-disease experience needle anxiety.
Despite this, distress often goes unnoticed, meaning people do not get the intervention they need to reduce distress, improve quality of life and make better informed decisions.
Needle anxiety shapes a person’s decision making about their renal care, is a major barrier for someone choosing home therapies or to have a fistula created and can lead to a person choosing conservative management over dialysis, thus early death.
Improving needle anxiety leads to equitable care as it ensures a person can make informed decisions about their renal care that are not fear based, reduce distress associated with their renal care, and improve quality and longevity of life.
Needle anxiety is present in all parts of renal care including pre-dialysis, living life on dialysis, transplant and supportive care. Thankfully there are ways the multidisciplinary team can help. This talk will detail how to identify when someone is struggling with needle anxiety and offer practical, effective strategies for all clinicians to use based on scientific literature as well as clinical expertise. These will include service and language considerations, sensation and technology strategies, cognitive-behavioural techniques, through to graded exposure for severe needle phobia. A case study to demonstrate the application of these skills and further web-based support will also be presented.