- Title
- Pain management in Australian emergency departments: current practice, enablers, barriers and future directions
- Creator
- Bennetts, Scott; Campbell-Brophy, Evylyn; Huckson, Susan; Doherty, Steven
- Relation
- Emergency Medicine Australasia Vol. 24, Issue 2, p. 136-143
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-6723.2011.01499.x
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2012
- Description
- OBJECTIVE: To explore current pain management practice in Australian EDs and identify enablers and barriers for best-practice pain management. METHODS: Five focus groups and two in-depth interviews were held with ED clinical staff (n= 47) from six hospitals in three states. Participants were asked open-ended questions to determine current pain management practices, enablers and barriers to implementing best-practice pain management, and understand change in practice within the ED setting. RESULTS: Emergency department staff identified a gap between evidence-based pain management recommendations and everyday practice. Perceived barriers to improving pain management included a lack of time and resources, a greater number of urgent and serious presentations that place pain management as a lower priority, organizational protocols and legislative issues. All groups noted difficulty in applying pain management guidelines in the context of competing priorities in the challenging ED environment. A culture of learning clinical practice from respected senior staff and peers was perceived to be a key enabler. Participants consistently expressed the view that evidence-based practice improvement should be championed by senior clinical staff, and that evidence to demonstrate the benefits of change must be presented to support the need for change. CONCLUSIONS: Effective and sustainable system change requires a strategy that is initiated within the ED, targets opinion leaders, is supported by evidence, and engages all levels of ED staff.
- Subject
- analgesia; attitude of health personnel; emergency service; evidence-based medicine; pain; quality assurance
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1301959
- Identifier
- uon:20378
- Identifier
- ISSN:1742-6731
- Language
- eng
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