Acute pain in emergengy department and the consequences of its inadequate management
International Journal of Development Research
Acute pain in emergengy department and the consequences of its inadequate management
Received 28th June, 2021; Received in revised form 29th July, 2021; Accepted 11th August, 2021; Published online 27th September, 2021
Copyright © 2021, N’ghalna da Silva et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Pain is one of the main reasons for seeking emergency services and its commonly neglected or undertreated. Objective: To characterize the main types of pain in the emergency department, and to evaluate analgesic strategies and responses. Methods: A hundred and ten adult patients with acute pain complaints were evaluated between June and September of 2017 at the emergency department of Governador Celso Ramos Hospital. Subjects were submitted to a standardized structured interview designed for that purpose. Results: Of the 110 individuals aged 38.32+15.07 years, 52.73% were female. Pain site frequencies were: 1) abdominal pain (23.64%); 2) low back pain (23.64%); 3) head pain (23.64%); other sites (10%). Almost 83% were treated with a direct relationship between the chosen analgesic and the location of the pain. At discharge, total and partial improvement were attained by 51.82% and 30% of subjects, respectively. Eighteen percent of subjects had their pain not treated. Home analgesia was not prescribed for half unmedicated subjects. Conclusion: In most cases, satisfactory pain control was attained, but some patientes was discharged with pain and without home analgesia, contributing to an increase in demand for medical care in emergency department.
