Comparing Individualized vs. Weight Based Protocols to Treat Vaso-Occlusive Episodes in Sickle Cell Disease

A Comparison of Individualized vs. Weight Based Protocols to Treat Vaso-Occlusive Episodes in Sickle Cell Disease

The purpose of this research study is to compare two different ways to give opioid pain medicine to treat sickle cell disease pain that is bad enough to go to the emergency department for treatment. One way uses your weight to decide how much pain medicine to give you while in the emergency department. This is called weight based treatment. The other way uses how much pain medicine you take at home and how much medicine you needed during past emergency department visits to decide how much medicine to give you. This is called patient specific treatment.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All adult (18 years or older);
• Sickle Cell Disease patients with the following genotypes: Hgb SS (sickle cell anemia), SC(Sickle hemoglobin-c) , and SB+(sickle Beta-Plus thalassemia) and SB-(sickle Beta zero thalassemia)

Exclusion Criteria:

• determined to not benefit from opioids and therefore won't receive opioids in any future Emergency Department visit.