Pain Evaluation and Treatment in the Emergency Department

Overview

All patients admitted in Geneva University Hospitals (GUH) emergency department (ED) are triaged using the Swiss Emergency Triage Scale (SETS), a 4-level symptom-based triage scale. At the end of the triage process the triage nurse has to choose an emergency level and a main presenting complaint among a listing of 98 presenting complaints. The SETS recommends a pain evaluation for 44 out of the SETS 98 presenting complaint. The primary objective of the study is to determine whether pain is correctly evaluated when required by the SETS criteria. The secondary objectives are (1) to evaluate whether an appropriate treatment is delivered when pain is present, and (2) to identify predictors of pain evaluation and treatment.

All patients admitted in Geneva University Hospitals (GUH) emergency department (ED) are triaged using the Swiss Emergency Triage Scale (SETS), a 4-level symptom-based triage scale. At the end of the triage process the triage nurse has to choose an emergency level and a main presenting complaint among a listing of 98 presenting complaints. The SETS recommends a pain evaluation for 44 out of the SETS 98 presenting complaint. After this evaluation, a protocol standardize administration of analgesia for patients presenting pain. The primary objective of the study is to determine whether pain is correctly evaluated when required by the SETS criteria for the 44 presenting complaints. The secondary objectives are (1) to evaluate whether an appropriate treatment is delivered when pain is present, and (2) to identify predictors of pain evaluation and treatment.

Conditions

Interventions