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‘This won’t hurt a bit!’ – A descriptive review of health care professionals’ pharmacological management of pain in minor trauma
- Source :
- South African Family Practice; Vol. 63 No. 2 (2021), South African Family Practice, Vol 63, Iss 1, Pp e1-e8 (2021), South African Family Practice
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Medpharm Publications Pty Ltd, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Background: Emergency Centres (ECs) have a prominent trauma burden requiring effective pain management. This study aimed to review analgesia-prescribing habits in minor trauma, reviewing the patient demographics and diagnoses, analgesia-prescribing habits of health care professionals (HCPs) managing these cases, and differences in prescribing noted by patients’ age group, gender and triage code. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in a regional EC in KwaZulu-Natal. HCPs managing minor trauma patients completed a closed-ended questionnaire which indicated the patients’ demographics, diagnosis and analgesia prescribed. Results: The study comprised of 314 cases of which the demographic most represented were male patients aged between 20–30 years with soft tissue injuries. Simple analgesics and weak opioids (paracetamol, ibuprofen and tramadol) accounted for 87.9% of prescriptions. Referral clinics prescribed less analgesics than that provided in the EC. There were mostly no significant differences in prescription habits by patients’ age group, gender and triage code. Conclusion: Presenting complaints in our study were varied and likely to result in mild to moderate pain. Only a minority of patients received analgesics at initial contact. Standardised protocols providing treatment guidance for nurse-initiated pain management at initial contact is thus important. There were no significant differences in analgesics prescribed for adults and the elderly, which is worrisome given the potential negative side effects of analgesics in the elderly. Similar concerns in our paediatric population were not noted. Ensuring adequate analgesia with cognisance for safety at the extremes of age is of paramount importance.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Referral
Health Personnel
Pain
Developing country
South Africa
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Health care
Humans
Medicine
emergency centre
Prospective Studies
030212 general & internal medicine
Medical diagnosis
Medical prescription
Demography
Original Research
Trauma Severity Indices
business.industry
030503 health policy & services
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
analgesia
developing countries
rural medicine
Cross-Sectional Studies
trauma
Minor trauma
Emergency medicine
Wounds and Injuries
Tramadol
0305 other medical science
Family Practice
business
Bit (key)
Analgesia
medicine.drug
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20786190 and 20786204
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- South African Family Practice
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....6d98216c74be41c0240fd7181f0a750b