Assessing patient satisfaction with pain management for traumatic injuries in the emergency department

Objective: To identify factors influencing patient satisfaction and the effectiveness of a common analgesic administered upon triage arrival. Methodology: This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial included 120 patients with isolated upper or lower limb trauma admitted to the ED. Patients, aged 14 and above, were randomly assigned to receive either 0.05 mg/kg of intravenous morphine or a placebo of distilled water for pain management. Patient satisfaction with pain control was assessed using a 3-level rating scale (good, moderate, poor) at the study's conclusion, considering demographic characteristics, education level, mechanism of trauma and injury type and site. Results: Mean age of patients was 35±15.41 years. Intervention group had good to moderate satisfaction across genders, ages, and education levels. While 85% of patients with soft tissue injuries were satisfied, nearly 40% with fractures were dissatisfied. Notably, around 80% of participants with upper or lower limb injuries reported successful pain management satisfaction. However, patients with car accident-related trauma expressed dissatisfaction, contrasting with about 80% satisfaction among those with other traumatic pains. Satisfaction was significantly higher in the morphine group compared to the control group, where 58.3% reported poor satisfaction. Conclusion: This study underscores the critical role of pain management in enhancing satisfaction among trauma patients in ED, irrespective of their demographic traits, injury type and location, or injury mechanism.