TY  - JOUR
TI  - Pain management practices in the 
emergency departments in Turkey
AB  - OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate pain management practices in the emergency 
departments (EDs) in Turkey and to evaluate the prevalence and etiologies of oligoanalgesia to 
identify possible improvement strategies.
METHODS: This multicenter cross‑sectional observational study was conducted in 10 tertiary care 
hospitals in Turkey. Patients who were admitted to the ED with pain chief complaints were included 
in the study. Both patients and physicians were surveyed with two separate forms by the research 
associates, respectively. The patient survey collected data about the pain and the interventions from 
the patients’ perspective. The pain was evaluated using the Numerical Rating Scale. The physician 
survey collected data to assess the differences between study centers on pain management strategies 
and physician attitudes in pain management.
RESULTS: Ten emergency physicians and 740 patients (male/female: 365/375) enrolled in the 
study. The median pain score at admission at both triage and ED was 7 (interquartile range: 5–8). 
The most frequent type of pain at admission was headache (n = 184, 24.7%). The most common 
analgesics ordered by physicians were nonsteroidal anti‑inflammatory drugs (n = 505, 67.9%), and 
the most frequent route of administration was intramuscular injection (n = 396, 53.2%). About half of 
the patients (n = 366, 49.2%) received analgesics 10–30 min from ED admission. The posttreatment 
median pain score decreased to 3 (P < 0.001). About 79.2% of patients did not need a second 
analgesic administration (n = 589), and opioid analgesics were the most frequently administered 
analgesic if the second application was required. Physicians prescribed an analgesic at discharge from 
the ED in 55.6% of the patients (n = 414) and acute pain was present in 7.5% (n = 56) of the patients.
CONCLUSION: Our study on the pain management practices in the EDs in Turkey suggested that 
high rate of intramuscular analgesic use and long emergency room stay durations are issues that 
should constitute the focus of our quality improvement efforts in pain management.
AU  - Çınar, Orhan
AU  - HANOĞLU, Nazife Didem
AU  - Gökhan, Servan
AU  - Polat, Dicle
AU  - üstsoy, emre
AU  - Kaya, Bora
AU  - Eroğlu, Serkan Emre
AU  - kılıç, turgay yılmaz
AU  - Çetin, Murat
AU  - GONENÇ ÇEKIÇ, OZGEN
AU  - Yilmaz, Serkan
AU  - AKAR, SAKİNE
DO  - 10.4103/2452-2473.329633
PY  - 2021
JO  - Turkish journal of emergency medicine (Online)
VL  - 21
IS  - 4
SN  - 2452-2473
SP  - 189
EP  - 197
DB  - TRDizin
UR  - http://search/yayin/detay/532321
ER  -