Emergency Department Pain Management in Adult Patients With Traumatic Injuries Before and After Implementation of a Nurse-Initiated Pain Treatment Protocol Utilizing Fentanyl for Severe Pain

Pain management in the emergency department (ED) remains suboptimal. Nursing staff protocols could improve this, but studies show divergent results. Our aim was to evaluate a nurse-initiated pain-management protocol in adult patients with traumatic injuries in the short and in the long term, utilizing fentanyl for severe pain. In this pre-post implementation study, ED patients were included during three periods. The protocol allowed nurses to administer acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or fentanyl autonomously, based on Numeric Rating Scale pain scores. Primary outcome was frequency of analgesic administration at 6 and 18 months after implementation. Secondary outcomes were pain awareness, occurrence of adverse events, and pain treatment after discharge. Five hundred and twelve patients before implementation were compared with 507 and 468 patients at 6 and 18 months after implementation, respectively. Analgesic administration increased significantly at 18 months (from 29% to 36%; p = 0.016), not at 6 months (33%; p = 0.19) after implementation. Pain awareness increased from 30% to 51% (p = 0.00) at 6 months and to 56% (p = 0.00) at 18 months, due to a significant increase in pain assessment: 3% to 30% (p = 0.00) and 32% (p = 0.00), respectively. Post-discharge pain treatment increased significantly at 18 months compared to baseline (from 25% to 33%; p = 0.016) and to 6 months (from 24% to 33%; p = 0.004). No adverse events were recorded. Implementation of a nurse-initiated pain-management protocol only increases analgesic administration in adult patients with traumatic injuries in the long term. Auditing might have promoted adherence. Pain awareness increases significantly in the short and the long term