Assessing patient satisfaction with pain management for traumatic injuries in the emergency department | Rawal Medical Journal 2025

Objective: To identify factors influencing patient satisfaction and the effectiveness of a common analgesic administered upon triage arrival. Methodology: This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial included 120 patients with isolated upper or lower limb trauma admitted to the ED. Patients, aged 14 and above, were randomly assigned to receive either 0.05 mg/kg of intravenous morphine or a placebo of distilled water for pain management. Patient satisfaction with pain control was assessed using a 3level rating scale (good, moderate, poor) at the study's conclusion, considering demographic characteristics, education level, mechanism of trauma and injury type and site. Results: Mean age of patients was 35 ± 15.41 years. Intervention group had good to moderate satisfaction across genders, ages, and education levels. While 85% of patients with soft tissue injuries were satisfied, nearly 40% with fractures were dissatisfied. Notably, around 80% of participants with upper or lower limb injuries reported successful pain management satisfaction. Ho-wever, patients with car accident-related trauma expres-sed dissatisfaction, contrasting with about 80% satisfac-tion among those with other traumatic pains. Satisfact-ion was significantly higher in the morphine group com-pared to the control group, where 58.3% reported poor satisfaction. Conclusion: This study underscores the critical role of pain management in enhancing satisfaction among tra-uma patients in ED, irrespective of their demographic traits, injury type and location, or injury mechanism.

KH Todd .2017 .A review of current and emerging approaches to pain management in the emergency department. Pain Ther, 6 : 193-202.

Abdolrazaghnejad A,Banaie M,Tavakoli N,Safdari M,Rajabpour-Sanati A .2018 .Pain management in the emergency department: a review article on options and methods. Adv J Emerg Med, 2(4) : e45.

Adamu KM,Abdullahi HM .2022 .Abdominal pain in the female patient: A case of concurrent acute appendicitis and infected ovarian cyst. Ibom Med J, 15 : 178-82.

Papa L,Maguire L,Bender M,Boyd M,Patel S,Samcam I. .2022 .Patient controlled analgesia for the management of acute pain in the emergency department: A systematic review. Am J Emerg Med, 51 : 228-38.

Hachimi-Idrissi S,Coffey F,Hautz WE,Leach R,Sauter TC .2020 .Approaching acute pain in emergency settings: European Society for Emergency Medicine (EUSEM) guidelines-part 1: assessment. Intern Emerg Med, 15 : 1125-39.

Schug SA,Palmer GM,Scott DA,Halliwell R,Trinca J. .2020 .Acute pain management: scientific evidence: Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Melbourne. , : .

Leigheb M,Sabbatini M,Baldrighi M,Hasenboehler EA,Briacca L,Grassi F .2017 .Prospective analysis of pain and pain management in an emergency department. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 88(Suppl 4) : .

Patrick PA,Rosenthal BM,Iezzi CA,Brand DA .2015 .Timely pain management in the emergency department. J Emerg Med, 48 : 267-73.

Schug SA,Palmer GM,Scott DA,Halliwell R,Trinca J .2016 .. 2015. Med J Australia, 204 : 315-7.

Mohammed K,Nolan MB,Rajjo T,Shah ND,Prokop LJ,Varkey P .2016 .Creating a patient-centered health care delivery system: a systematic review of health care quality from the patient perspective. Am J Med Qual, 31 : 12-21.

Asamrew N,Endris AA,Tadesse M. .2020 .doi. J Environ Public Health, : .

Fabbri A,Voza A,Riccardi A,Serra S,Iaco FD. .2023 .The pain management of trauma patients in the emergency department. J Clin Med, 12 : 3289.

Zanza C,Romenskaya T,Zuliani M,Piccolella F,Bottinelli M,Caputo G .2023 .Acute traumatic pain in the emergency department. Diseases, 11 : 45-9.

Aghajani MH,Haddadi M,Saadat S M .2017 .Epidemiological pattern of injuries in Iran; a nationwide review of seven million emergency department admissions. Emergency, 5 : e10.

Mehrpour SR,Nabian MH,Zanjani LO,ForoughmandAraabi MH,Kamrani RS .2015 .Descriptive epidemiology of traumatic injuries in 18890 adults: a 5-year-study in a tertiary trauma center in Iran. Asian J Sports Med, 6 : e23129.

Reihani H,Pirazghandi H,Bolvardi E,Ebrahimi M,Pishbin E,Ahmadi K .2017 .Assessment of mechanism, type and severity of injury in multiple trauma patients: A cross sectional study of a trauma center in Iran. Chinese J Traumatol, 20 : 75-80.

Chalya PL,Mabula JB,Dass RM,Mbelenge N,Ngayomela IH,Chandika AB .2012 .Injury characteristics and outcome of road traffic crash victims at Bugando Medical Centre in Northwestern Tanzania. J Trauma Management Outcomes, 6 : 1-8.

Seid M,Azazh A,Enquselassie F,Yisma E. .2015 .Injury characteristics and outcome of road traffic accident among victims at Adult Emergency Department of Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a prospective hospital based study. BMC Emerg Med, 15 : 1-9.

Fallon E,Fung S,Rubal-Peace G,Patanwala AE .2016 .Predictors of patient satisfaction with pain management in the emergency department. Adv Emerg Nursing J, 38 : 115-22.

Shill J,Taylor DM,Ngui B,Taylor SE,Ugoni AM,Yeoh M .2012 .Factors associated with high levels of patient satisfaction with pain management. Acad Emerg Med, 19 : 1212-5.

Baker TA,Krok-Schoen JL,O'Connor ML,Brooks AK .2016 .doi. Pain Res Management, : .

Brown T,Shetty A,Zhao DF,Harvey N,Yu T,Murphy M. .2018 .Association between pain control and patient satisfaction outcomes in the emergency department setting. Emerg Med Australasia, 30 : 523-9.

Bhakta HC .2014 .Pain management: association with patient satisfaction among emergency department patients. J Emerg Med, 46 : 456-64.

Riley J,Ross JR,Rutter D,Wells AU,Goller K,Du Bois R .2006 .No pain relief from morphine? Individual variation in sensitivity to morphine and the need to switch to an alternative opioid in cancer patients. Supportive Care Cancer, 14 : 56-64.