Background: Pain is the most compelling factor that leads people to visit the emergency department (ED). We aimed to assess patient satisfaction with the management of acute pain in the ED of a tertiary academic hospital, where opioid agents are used on a minimal and limited basis.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over 2 months. A modified questionnaire was administered by telephone to adult patients who had complained of pain and received analgesics in the ED. Multivariate correlational analysis was performed to identify the predictors of patient satisfaction.
Results: We included 76 patients (mean age, 40.88 ± 15.47 years) of these, 65 (85%) received non-opioids, while 11 (14%) received an opioid analgesic. Fifty (65%) of total patients thought they had received enough analgesics. Mean initial pain score was 8.11 ± 1.93 while that at discharge was 4.38 ± 3.03. Multivariate regression showed that ED diagnosis [coefficient = −0.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.43, −0.40], chronic analgesic use (coefficient =1.25; 95% CI 0.21, 2.28), type of analgesic administered (coefficient = −1.11; 95% CI −2.66, 0.43), initial pain score (coefficient = 0.39; 95% CI 0.07, 0.71), pain score at discharge (coefficient = −0.51; 95% CI −0.74, −0.29), perception of enough analgesics (coefficient = 2.30; 95% CI 0.97, 3.63), and staff helpfulness (coefficient = 0.19; 95% CI 0.02, 0.38) were significantly associated with patient satisfaction. The type of analgesic was not significantly associated with patient satisfaction (model R2 = 0.54).
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the use of opioid agents did not significantly increase the patients' satisfaction scores. Adjusting patient satisfaction predictors, including the type of analgesic used, will help in optimizing the patients' experience.
Key words: Acute pain management, patient satisfaction, emergency department, analgesics, opioids
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