Understanding the Impact of Chronic Pain in the Emergency Department: Prevalence and Characteristics of Patients Visiting the Emergency Department for Chronic Pain at an Urban Academic Health Sciences Centre.

Autor: Small RN; Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada., Shergill Y; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Centre for Collaborative Health, Oakville, Ontario, Canada., Tremblay S; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada., Nelli J; Department of Anesthesiology, Hamilton Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada., Rice D; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada., Smyth C; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada., Poulin PA; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.; Department of Psychology, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur [Can J Pain] 2019 May 06; Vol. 3 (1), pp. 106-113. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 May 06 (Print Publication: 2019).
DOI: 10.1080/24740527.2019.1587290
Abstrakt: Background : Canadians make approximately 16 million visits to the emergency department (ED) each year. ED visits for non-urgent reasons contribute to suboptimal patient care and ineffective resource use. Aims : To estimate the proportion of ED visits related to chronic pain at our institution. Methods . We conducted a retrospective review of 1000 randomly selected ED visits at TOH during the 2012-2013 fiscal year (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013). Visits for chronic pain were identified using pre-defined criteria. Demographic and medical data were extracted from medical charts. Results : 104 visits during this time period were related to chronic pain (10.4%; 95% CI: 8.2-12.6). All visits were from unique patients (i.e., no patients contributed more than 1 visit). Patients were predominantly women (71%), with a mean age of 45.9 years. Seventy-eight percent of patients had a primary care provider. The most common location of pain included the abdomen (24%), the head or face (21%), and the low back (21%). Only 5% of patients had consultation with a pain medicine specialist while 78% were awaiting a consultation. More than 2/3 of patients (71%) reported using opioids for their pain. Conclusion : Presenting to the ED for chronic pain was found to occur among a sample of ED visits reviewed. This can result in ineffective care for patients with chronic pain. Cost-effective solutions to improve clinical outcomes and reduce ED use for chronic pain may yield significant improvements in health outcomes of patients and benefits for the health care system.
Competing Interests: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.
(© 2019 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz:
Nepřihlášeným uživatelům se plný text nezobrazuje