Nurses’ Behavior Regarding Pain Treatment in an Emergency Department: A Single-Center Observational Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Assessment of Pain and Triage Color Codes

		Nurse’s Inquiries about Pain		Total
		Yes	No
Triage code	White	30	3	33
	Green	255	19	274
	Yellow	194	5	199
	Red	3	0	3
Total		482	27	509
		Nurse’s Evaluation of Pain Intensity		Total
		Yes	No
Triage code	White	17	16	33
	Green	175	99	274
	Yellow	160	39	199
	Red	3	0	3
Total		355	154	509

Notes: White, no urgency; green, minor urgency; yellow, delayed urgency; red, emergency or resuscitation.

Table 2 Time from ED Triage to Nurse-Administered Analgesia

	Frequency	%	Cumulative %
Lost to follow-up	2	0.4	0.4
Immediate	7	1.4	1.8
1–30 minutes	187	36.7	38.5
31–60 minutes	82	16.1	54.6
61–90 minutes	57	11.2	65.8
91–150 minutes	85	16.7	82.5
151–240 minutes	54	10.6	93.1
4–7 hours	28	5.5	98.6
>7 hours	7	1.4	100
Total	509	100	---

Table 3 Decrease in Pain Intensity after Analgesia Administration

Decrease in NRS	Frequency	%	Cumulative %
Lost to follow-up	2	0.4	0.4
1 point	52	10.2	10.6
3 points	247	48.5	59.1
5 points	174	34.2	93.3
>5 points	34	6.7	100
Total	509	100	—

Abbreviation: NRS, numeric rating scale.

Table 4 Decrease in NRS Score and Perceived Quality of Analgesia

		Patient-Perceived Quality of Analgesia					Total
		Insufficient	Sufficient	Fair	Good	Excellent
Pain-intensity decrease	≤3 points	2	137	143	17	0	299
	≥5 points	0	1	109	88	10	208
Total		2	138	252	105	10	507

Abbreviation: NRS, numeric rating scale.

Table 5 Sites of Pain

	n	%
Head	82	16.1
Neck	38	7.5
Chest	75	14.7
Abdomen	67	13.2
Pelvic area	50	9.8
Lumbosacral spine	24	4.7
Upper limbs	79	15.5
Lower limbs	72	14.1
Burns or superficial injuries	22	4.3
Total	509	100

Table 6 Sites of Pain and Nurse Evaluation of Pain Intensity

	Nurse Evaluation
	Yes		No
	n	%	n	%
Head	62	17.5	20	13.0
Neck	26	7.3	12	7.8
Chest	60	16.9	15	9.7
Abdomen	50	14.1	17	11.0
Pelvic area	33	9.3	17	11.0
Lumbosacral spine	15	4.2	9	5.8
Upper limbs	49	13.8	30	19.5
Lower limbs	51	14.4	21	13.6
Burns or superficial injuries	9	2.5	13	8.4

Notes: χ²=17.73; df=8; p<0.05.