Pain Relief in the Emergency Department Waiting Room: a Prevalence Study

Antalgie à l'Accueil Des Urgences- étude de prévalence

Pain in the emergency room is under documented and pain relief suboptimal. Data on nurse driven analgesia in emergency department waiting rooms is lacking. The primary objective of this study is to determine the proportion of patients in pain receiving pain therapy administered by the triage nurse (prevalence study). The secondary objectives are to 1) describe nursing practices in analgesia and adherence to the dedicated protocol; 2) to determine the factors associated with the non administration of painkillers and for these factors, to estimate the strength of the association

Inclusion Criteria:

• Documented pain score on arrival by the triage nurse and
• Patients having to wait in the ER waiting room

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients directly admitted to the consultation room
• patients for whom pain was not recorded