For some people, the idea of the pain of a needle stick is debilitating.
And for others, like pediatric oncology patients or women undergoing infertility treatments, the sheer number, size, or frequency of the needle-stick pain becomes an issue. Yet many HCPs don’t know the extent of how much their patients dread needle-stick pain—or that it can be bad enough that they don’t get medically necessary treatments. The drama and eye-catching nature of the “scorpion” was the right tone and the right metaphor to trigger discussion with HCPs. It provided them with an idea of how many of their patients view even a simple injection with fear and anxiety and reinforced the urgent need to do something about it to help.
Fear of Needle-Stick Pain Is Real
Stop the Sting campaign also uses a wasp metaphor to evoke the feeling of needle-stick pain for patients—just a little less scary than the scorpion for the non-professional audience.
