The Prevalence of Pain and the Role of Analgesic Drugs in Pain Management in Patients with Trauma in Emergency Department

Background: Pain could potentially affect all aspects of patient admission course and outcome in emergency department (ED) when left undertreated. The alleviation of acute pain remains simply affordable but is usually,and sometimes purposefully, left untreated in patients with trauma. This study challenged the conventional emergency department policies in reducing the intensity of acute pain considering the pharmacological treatments.Methods: In this case-control study, the prevalence and intensity of pain in 200 patients were evaluated on admission (T1) and 24 hours later (T2) based on the valid, standardized 10-point numeric rating scale (NRS0-10) for pain intensity. A group of patients received analgesic drugs and others did not. Changes in painpatterns regarding different aspects of trauma injuries in these two groups were compared.Results: The pain prevalence was high both on admission and 24 hours later. 51.5% of the study population received analgesics and 77.6% of them reported a decrease in the intensity of their pain. Only half of thepatients, who did not receive any medication, reported a decrease in their pain intensity after 24 hours. The most beneficial policy to manage the acute pain was a combination therapy of the injury treatment and asupplementary pharmacological intervention. Conclusions: Pharmacological management of pain in patients with trauma is shown to be significantlybeneficial for patients as it eases getting along with the pain, and still seems not to affect the diagnostic aspects of the trauma. Pain management protocols or algorithms could potentially minimize the barriers in current painmanagement of patients with trauma. © 2014 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.Citation: Paydar S, Alizadeh M, Taheri R, Mousavi SM, Niakan H, Hoseini N, et al. The Prevalence of Pain and the Role of Analgesic Drugs in Pain Management in Patients with Trauma in Emergency Department. Acad J Surg, 2014; 1(4): 114-20.