Pain Treatment in Polish Emergency Medical Teams—Is the Pain Management Entitlement Being Used?—A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: Pain has been identified as the most common reason for emergency medical service (EMS) calls. Despite many years of pain research, it is still true that oligoanalgesia is an ongoing phenomenon. This demonstrates the need for the implementation of new solutions and for further analyses on the causes of inadequate pain treatment. The study was undertaken to analyze analgesic treatment implemented in specialist “S” and basic “P” Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs). Methods: This retrospective study was based on the analysis of medical records using the emergency medical service card. A total of 1333 medical files were analyzed, of which 539 cases were qualified for the study according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The analysis has shown that the majority of interventions were undertaken by basic emergency medical teams and that acute pain was the most common reason for contacting the EMS. However, only 62.52% of patients received analgesia. It was shown that the frequency of administering paracetamol, metamizole, and ketoprofen was proportional to the increase in pain intensity. Similar correlations were identified in the cases of morphine, fentanyl, and drotaverine, which were most often administered to patients with the most severe pain. Conclusions: The nature and location of pain, as well as its intensity, affected the choice of analgesia. Opioids were administered more frequently with more extensive injuries and at greater pain intensity. Significant differences were found in the frequency at which acetylsalicylic acid was administered more often in “S” EMTs and drotaverine more often in “P” EMTs. The intravenous route was found to be the most common route of analgesia administration in EMTs.

Keywords

• analgesia
• pain treatment
• emergency medical services
• oligoanalgesia
• prehospital emergency care
• emergency medical team