Is caregiver refusal of analgesics a barrier to pediatric emergency pain management? A cross-sectional study in two Canadian centres.

Authors

Caroline Whiston, Western University
Samina Ali
Bruce Wright
David Wonnacott, Western University
Antonia S Stang
Graham C Thompson
Chirag Bhat, Western University
Sydney Todorovich, Western University
Ashutosh Mishra, Western University
Dora Laczko, Western University
Michael Miller, Western University
Naveen Poonai, Western UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2018

Journal

Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine

Volume

20

Issue

6

First Page

892

Last Page

902

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1017/cem.2018.11

Abstract

Clinician's Capsule

What is known about the topic?

Children's pain in the emergency department (ED) continues to be under-recognized and sub-optimally managed.What did this study ask?We sought to evaluate the frequency of caregiver/child acceptance of analgesia offered in the ED.What did this study find?Of the 743 children who presented to the ED with a painful condition, 408 (54.9%) were offered analgesia. If offered in the ED, analgesia was accepted by 91% (373/408) of the caregivers/children.Why does this study matter to clinicians?This study suggests that caregiver/child refusal of analgesia is a not a major barrier to optimal pain management and highlights the importance of ED personnel in encouraging adequate analgesia.

Notes

Article available at Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine

https://doi.org/10.1017/cem.2018.11

© 2018 Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians