Analgesia for extremity fractures in the paediatric emergency department

Abstract

Background: Extremity fractures are an important and common presentation at the Paediatric Emergency Department (PED). Provision of analgesia is a key management principle, but it is often suboptimal. Although there is an increase in awareness of this issue, the impact on current practice is not known. We aimed to review the current practice of providing analgesia for extremity fractures in the PED. Objective: Our objective was to determine the utilisation, adequacy and timeliness of analgesia provided for these patients. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out from November to December 2017. Patients with a diagnosis of extremity fracture involving the upper or lower limb were included. Information about patient demographics, diagnosis, pain score, analgesia use and clinical progress were collected for analysis. Results: There were 101 cases. The mean age was 8.5±4.2 years old, and 62 (61.4%) patients were male. There were 76 (75.3%) cases of fractures involving the upper limb, and 25 (24.7%) cases of fractures involving the lower limb. The mean pain score at presentation was 3.3±2.3. Analgesia was administered to only 10 (9.9%) patients, with oral paracetamol ( n=5; 5.0%) being the most common medication administered. The median time between arrival in the PED to analgesia administration was 69 minutes (range 25–328 minutes). Conclusions: Despite the increase in awareness, analgesia for these patients remains underutilised, inadequate and delayed. Further efforts at pain assessment, analgesia selection and administration are necessary to improve the provision of analgesia for these patients.