Emergency room management of urolithiasis: a sex-based comparison.

INTRODUCTION

Existing literature has highlighted disparities in acute pain management across racial and sex groups in both emergency department and pre-hospital settings. This study aimed to evaluate prescribing patterns among physicians and advanced practice providers for patients with upper tract urolithiasis in an academic emergency department.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with upper tract urolithiasis was performed to evaluate age, sex, race, ethnicity, stone size and location, presence of hydronephrosis, admission status, history of prior nephrolithiasis, medications administered in the emergency department (ED), requests for urology consult or referral, and discharge medications.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

In this single-center, propensity-matched analysis, we found no significant sex, race, or provider level of training-based differences in prescribing patterns for patients presenting with renal colic secondary to upper urinary tract stones in our academic emergency department.