Prehospital Analgesia in Adults Using Inhaled Methoxyflurane : A Feasibility Study

Prehospital Analgesia in Adults Using Inhaled (PAIN) Methoxyflurane : A Feasibility Study

Pain is common and can contribute to both psychological and physiological effects if not treated. Currently primary care paramedics have limited selections within their pain management tool box. This contributes to inadequate pain management. Methoxyflurane is a safe, easy and effective choice in prehospital management of pain. The impact of this feasibility trial, will hope to inform the larger multi-centred trial and then support the implementation of out-of-hospital Canadian National Guidelines for prehospital pain control, enabling paramedics to provide rapid, effective prehospital pain relief to patients.

This will be a single-centred prehospital prospective observational feasibility study to evaluate the ability to perform a multicentred step wedge design trial. The feasibility outcomes will provide evidence for the development of the multicentred study and will capture clinical metrics to inform this larger study. A waver of consent will be sought from the ethics board with participation consent for paramedics understanding the risk of using a gas for analgesia. Patient >= 18 years of age with traumatic pain with a verbal score >= to 4 will be enrolled.

Inclusion Criteria:

• >=18 years of age
• Acute pain from traumatic injury
• numeric pain score >=4

Exclusion Criteria:

• Allergy or sensitivity to methoxyflurane
• History or family history of malignant hyperthermia
• Pregnant or breast-feeding patients
• Known renal impairment
• Known liver disease
• Methoxyflurane use within previous 3 months