By Leila Merrill
WASHINGTON — New evidence-based guidelines on effectively managing patients’ pain in a prehospital setting were released last week by the National Association of State EMS Officials.
The guidelines were published in the journal “Prehospital Emergency Care.”
A series of nine “patient/population-intervention-comparison-outcome” questions were developed, and an additional PICO question was developed to specifically address analgesia in pediatric patients.
A panel of technical experts made a strong recommendation for the use of intranasal fentanyl over intravenous opioids for pediatric patients without intravenous access.
The panel also made conditional recommendations for certain medications.
The eight-month project was done in collaboration with the National Association of EMS Physicians and the American College of Emergency Physicians EMS Committee.
NAEMSE will offer a webinar on the pain management guidelines at 1 p.m. March 9. The presentation is designed for EMS educators, prehospital clinicians, EMS medical directors and everyone else with an interest in addressing patients’ acute pain in a prehospital setting. To attend the event, sign up here.