J Korean Soc Emerg Med.  1998 Mar;9(1):92-96.

Pain Management for Traumatized patients in Emergency Department

• Jin YH
• Jeong TO
• Lee HN
• Lee JB

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pain is one of the most common presenting complaints in the emergency department(ED) and adequate analgesia for painful conditions is an important goal of emergency medical practice. This study was designed to investigate on the actual condition regarding the use of analgesic injections for traumatized patients in the field of ED and to reconsider the concern and methods of pain management in the future. METHOD: We carried out a prospective, noninterventional observational clinical study of adult patients presenting with acute trauma in the ED. Using a numeric rating scale ranging from 0 to 10, patients quantified their pain intensity on arriving at the ED and on one hour after analgesic administrations in the cases of analgesic use or after initial Assessment in the cases of no analgesic use. They also were interviewed about the level of their satisfaction to pain relief before leaving the ED.
RESULTS
Seventy eight percent of all patient received analgesic injections(nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; 62%, opioids; 16%) and the remaining 22 patients(22%) were treated without analgesics. At the time of secondary assessment to pain, initial pain score in the cases of analgesic administration decreased. Patients who are beyond fair in the level of satisfaction were recorded for only 18% of all patient even though 78% of patients received analgesic injections.
CONCLUSION
Our data illustrate that the patient of trauma commonly receive analgesic injections in the ED but their levels of satisfaction are under fair. This finding suggests that the concern and methods of pain management have to be reconsidered through the understanding of analgesic pharmacology and pattern of pain relief by analgesics.

MeSH Terms

Adult
Analgesia
Analgesics
Analgesics, Opioid
Emergencies*
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Humans
Pain Management*
Pharmacology
Prospective Studies
Analgesics
Analgesics, Opioid