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NASEMSO releases new prehospital pain management guidelines

The ground rules include questions to ask patients and evidence-based medication recommendations

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Image/National Association of State EMS Officials

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.

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