Enquête sur la prise en charge de la douleur aiguë dans les services d'urgences adultes du réseau régional douleur de Basse-Normandie

We conducted a survey of practices in the Basse-Normandie pain center network. This was a prospective multicentric study of practices over a 24-hour period in January 2003 in 18 adult emergency units. We interviewed patients and caregivers. 447 patients responded: 72% complained of pain but only 17 % were assessed at arrival; 52% were not given analgesic medication; 15% were not assessed after treatment; 40% were relieved of pain in the emergency room with VAS ≤ 3. Major analgesics were used for 5 % of patients. However, 88 % of patients were satisfied with care they received for pain. 322 caregivers responded: 42% had never received training about pain and pain treatments, but 66 % used an evaluation scale for pain; 76% used the visual analog scale. Caregivers requested specific training on analgesia protocols. Oligo-analgesia is still very infrequent in the emergency room. Caregiver training is insufficient. Analgesia protocols are almost inexistent and evaluation of pain remains exceptional. To improve the quality of analgesia, anti-pain protocols should be implemented together with specific training for all caregivers and designation of a specific pain-reference physician for each nurse.