Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36324866›Full record

ArticleJournal of pain research2022

Pain Management in a Prehospital Emergency Setting: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Paola Ferri, Carlo Gambaretto, Sara Alberti, Pierpaolo Parogni, Sergio Rovesti, Rosaria Di Lorenzo, Alfonso Sollami, Annalisa Bargellini

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of pain research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Observational
  2. Article
  3. Observational
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Observational
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Pain assessment and management of adult patients in the Swedish EMS: a nationwide registry study.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025
    Observational
  13. Observational
  14. Observational
  15. Article
  16. Observational
  17. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Paola FerriDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-7761-7226
Carlo GambarettoEmergency Department, ASST of Mantova, Mantova, Italy.
Sara AlbertiClinical and Experimental Medicine PhD Program, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Pierpaolo ParogniEmergency Department, ASST of Mantova, Mantova, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-6593-7433
Sergio RovestiDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1499-3897
Rosaria Di LorenzoDepartment of Mental Health and Drug Abuse, AUSL of Modena, Modena, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-9497-6837
Alfonso SollamiHealth Professions Service, University Hospital of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Annalisa BargelliniDepartment of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-7562-1472

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Purpose: Acute pain is a prevalent symptomatology in prehospital emergency care. Although inadequate assessment and treatment of acute pain are associated with various complications, about 43% of adults suffering from pain are undertreated. This phenomenon is poorly studied, and limited data are available in the literature. The objective was to investigate the pain management in a prehospital emergency health-care setting, verifying pain assessment, pharmacological treatment adherence and the effectiveness of pain relief therapy. Patients and Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in a sample including all adults treated by the professionals of nurse-staffed ambulances and medical cars in an Italian Emergency Medical Services (EMS) from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2019. We collected both demographic information and Numeric Rating Scale scores, which evaluated presence and intensity of pain, from the EMS paper forms. All analyses were performed using SPSS, version 27. Results: The study sample was composed of 629 people: 310 males (49%) and 319 females (51%), with an average age of 64.2±22 years (range 18-108). Pain information was collected in 75.5% (n = 475) of our sample; among them 222 patients (46.7%) suffered from pain. We recorded that 79.7% (n = 177) of the subjects with pain received no pharmacological treatment, and in almost all of the treated cases they did not adhere to the analgesia algorithm in use. Among those who were pharmacologically treated, pain statistically significantly decreased in intensity, from before to after, in both emergency vehicles (nurse-staffed ambulances pre m = 8.36±0.9 vs post m = 4.18±2.2, Conclusion: Our findings confirm that pain is a prevalent symptom in prehospital patients, especially in the younger age range, but that it remains an underrecognized, underestimated, and undertreated symptom with the risk of causing worse health outcomes.

Indexed as

emergency medical servicespain assessmentpain managementprehospital emergency careundertreatment of pain

Identifiers

PMID36324866
PMCPMC9621014

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.