Measurement of the pain levels of patients with extremity traumas and assessment of the attitudes of emergency physicians to pain management

Abstract

Aim: In this study, we aimed to measure the pain levels of patients with isolated extremity injuries due to low energy trauma, usingpain scales in the emergency department (ED).Material and Methods: Patients were included in the studybetween January and March 2017. The trauma-related pain levels of thepatients were assessed at the time of the initial examination and in the 45th minute. Three different scales; the ‘Wong-Baker FACESPain Rating Scale’(WBS), ‘Verbal Rating Scale’(VRS), and ‘Numeric Pain Rating Scale’ (NPRS) were used to measure the levels ofpain.Results: 236 patients were included in the study. At the time of the initial admission to the ED, 77% of patients had “Even More” painand worse according to the WBS, 67% had a pain score of 60 and above according to the Scale NPRS, and 74% had severe and worsepain according to the VRS. Analgesics were given to 11% of patients. A statistically significant decrease was detected in the painscale scores of patients who were treated in the ED compared to the patients who were not treated (p