Understanding the Minimization of Needle Pain in Clinical Practice: A Scoping Review

Needle procedures are a common source of pain in healthcare, yet pain is often underrecognized and undertreated, leading to anxiety, care avoidance, and distrust in medical systems. This scoping review synthesizes literature on needle pain across settings and populations, identifying barriers to effective management at patient, provider, and systems levels.Using Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched five databases for English-language peer-reviewed articles (2000-2024). Twenty-five studies met inclusion criteria and were analyzed thematically. Four themes emerged: (1) normalization of procedural pain, (2) patient and caregiver distress, (3) provider attitudes and knowledge gaps, and (4) systemic and policy-level shortcomings. Despite strong evidence for interventions like topical anesthetics and distraction techniques, they remain inconsistently used. Vulnerable groups are disproportionately affected. Addressing needle pain requires standardized protocols, provider training, and policy change to embed pain management into routine, ethical, patient-centered care.