An evaluation of emergency pain management practices in fragility fractures of the pelvis.

BACKGROUND

Inadequately treated pain is associated with significant morbidity in older adults. We aimed to describe current pain management practices for patients with fragility pelvic fractures, a common emergency department (ED) presentation in older adults.

METHODS

We performed a health records' review of adults ≥ 65 years old who presented to two academic EDs with nonoperative fragility pelvic fractures between 01/2014 and 09/2018. The primary outcome measures were type and timing of analgesic medications. Secondary outcome measures included ancillary service consultation, ED length of stay, admission rate and rate of return to ED at 30 days. Data were reported using descriptive statistics.

RESULTS

We included 411 patients. The majority were female (339, 82.5%) with mean age 83.9 (SD 8.1) years. Nearly, one-third (130, 31.6%) did not receive any analgesia for their fracture. Analgesia was initiated in 123 (29.9%) patients through paramedic and nursing medical directives; 244 (59.4%) patients received physician-initiated opioids (hydromorphone 228 (55.5%); morphine 28 (6.8%)). Only 23.1% of patients received one or more ancillary services: physiotherapy (10.5%), social work (7.3%), geriatric nurse assessment (14.1%), and homecare (3.9%). Mean ED length of stay was 11.6 (SD 7.1) h; 210 (51.1%) patients were admitted; of those discharged, 45 (22.4%) returned to the ED within 30 days.

CONCLUSION

One in three older adults presenting to the ED with nonoperative fragility pelvic fractures receive no analgesia during the course of their prehospital and ED care. Barriers to quality care must be identified and processes implemented to ensure adequate pain management for this population.