Patient satisfaction with their pain management: The effect of provision of pain management advice

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Many variables impact upon a patient's satisfaction with the way their pain is managed in the Emergency Department (ED). These include the length of time before they receive analgesia, the nature of the analgesia, ancillary means of managing pain (e.g. ice packs), staff courtesy etc. In three studies, we have observed that a high level of patient satisfaction with their pain management is associated with the provision of ‘pain advice’ i.e. being told by the ED staff that ‘pain management is important and that the patient should tell the staff if they have pain’. Providing pain advice (as above) should be part of the routine management of patients with pain. However, this does not always happen and standard care may be sup-optimal. In this study, we will randomize patients into two groups: 1) standard care, 2) standard care plus provision of pain advice (as above). We hypothesize that the provision of pain advice will result in increased patient satisfaction measured ~48 hours after discharge from the ED. If demonstrated, this will be powerful evidence that will inform the development of best-practice pain management guidelines. This is a low risk study. All patients will receive at least standard care. The intervention arm will receive a component of care that should be provided as part of standard care but is often not provided.