Fred Awards: Invention that could help one in four Australians

A medical device deemed a “bandaid on steroids” could be the key to helping one in four Australians overcome one of the world’s most common phobias.

Lauren Barber knows all too well how seriously a fear of needles can impact the health of Aussies.

Trypanophobia – the fear of needles – is reported to affect approximately one in four Australians on average.

Having spent a long time working in the emergency departments of hospitals as a registered nurse, Ms Barber noticed a real “correlation between needle phobia and poor health and healthcare avoidance – because the patients that would end up in emergency quite sick more often than not hadn’t been to the doctor for many years, or they’d had a bad experience when they were younger with a needle-related procedure”.

“I think there’s a lot of people who do have needle phobia – the procedure itself hasn’t changed much since the 1800s and it’s not a very well researched area – and in Australia, we’re really behind in what we’re doing,” she told news.com.au.

“I know there’s quite a few hospitals overseas especially that have a whole kind of procedure for needle-phobic patients – they’re really well aware of it. Whereas here, the problem is yet to be fully taken into account.”

The correlation between healthcare avoidance and needle phobia isn’t very well researched generally, but Ms Barber has seen from years of clinical experience that patients with multiple comorbidities like Type 2 diabetes or hypertension have often had a poor experience when they were younger that has prevented them from seeking medical attention earlier.

In 2016, after spending several months unwell and being on the receiving end of many injections, Ms Barber began to “do a lot of deep thinking” about that relationship between healthcare avoidance and a fear of needles – and that’s when NeedleCalm was born.

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NeedleCalm is a single-use medical advice that assists with the reduction of needle-associated pain. Picture: Supplied

Founder and NeedleCalm CEO Lauren Barber described it as “a bandaid on steroids”. Picture: Supplied

A single-use medical device, NeedleCalm is what Ms Barber – a nominee for this year’s Fred Awards – would describe simply as “a bandaid on steroids”, assisting with the reduction of needle-associated pain with injection, immunisations, venipuncture and catheterisation procedures often associated with vaccinations, blood donations and tests, and cancer treatment.

“Just slightly bigger than a business card, it has components in it that cool and provide pressure on the skin,” she explained.

“Although it looks really simple, it actually has a lot of things going on in it, with the psychology of how it all works and fits easily into the clinical workflow.”

Applied to the skin just before an injection is administered, the device uses a medical technique referred to as “closing the gate” between the needle injection site in the arm and pain receptors in the brain, “using the cooling and pressure sensations to block that of the sharp needle”.

While it’s normalised for children to be afraid of needles – meaning a lot of existing technology to minimise discomfort is geared at them – NeedleCalm is directed at adults just as much as children, helping to minimise any embarrassment they might feel over their fear.

“I have spoken to a lot of people over the years – they’re kind of embarrassed to ask for something that helps. And I’ve seen it a million times before, they don’t let the health care practitioner know how they feel and think that they can tough it out, but for a lot of people it’s just really, really difficult,” Ms Barber said.

“[With NeedleCalm] people just go, ‘OK, it’s this clinical-looking thing; it doesn’t have colours or sparkles or anything in it’, and they are not going to feel silly or embarrassed to ask for it. So I just want to normalise the whole process and just make it a bit nicer and more pleasant.”

Having launched in March this year, Ms Barber said the positive response so far has been quite “overwhelming”, with people saying the device has made a real difference in their experiences, with many encouraged to “just go and get blood tests or injections, which they haven’t done for years”.

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NeedleCalm CEO and founder Lauren Barber. Picture: Supplied

Ms Barber is hopeful NeedleCalm can help “close the gate” on Covid-19. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

With plans already in place for the next round of products – including a tourniquet – Ms Barber is hopeful NeedleCalm will play a pivotal role in ensuring Australia – and eventually other countries – overcomes key barriers to achieving herd immunity against infectious diseases, including Covid-19, as well as other critical healthcare avoidance.

“It’s exciting that we have the opportunity to help Australia close the gate on Covid-19 and launch our years of hard work in real time in one of the largest mass public vaccination campaigns of our time,” she said.

“And now there’s something that I believe can be used for most procedures, I think it’ll just take some time to kind of kick over needlephobia and our handling of it here and raise more awareness.”

The Fred Awards celebrate an Australian who embodies kindness, compassion and integrity in their everyday lives. Nominations for the Fred Awards will be open until 11.59pm, Friday July 23. The Foundation is calling for nominations from all states and territories, particularly the ACT, Northern Territory and South Australia, who have not yet put forward nominations. You can learn more about Fred and the awards – or nominate someone you know – here.