Paediatric distraction techniques – ‘Jedward gloves’

A study in the Emergency Medical Journal by Dr Eoin Fogarty suggests that a face drawn on an inflated rubber glove is a good way or distracting children from pain when they arrive in a hospital Emergency Department.
Dr Eoin Fogarty, Specialist Registrar in Pediatric Emergency Medicine in Dublin, told the Today programme: “What I’ve been doing for a number of years is taking a simple standard hospital glove, blowing it up and drawing a face on it, and using it to distract kids with acute pain.

“In the Jedward style, you draw the face on the palm, so the four fingers will look like their hair. The Mohawk is where you draw the face around the thumb, with the thumb representing the nose.”

This research was broadcast on the Radio 4 BBC Today show on April 30th 2013.