The use of ‘brutacaine’ in Danish emergency departments

Abstract

We aimed to investigate whether there was an unmet need for paediatric procedural pain management and/or sedation in Danish emergency departments (EDs). Cross-sectional survey of the 21 emergency hospitals in Denmark. Physical restraint during painful procedures was used by 80% (n = 12) of the departments and procedural sedation in children was used in 33% (n = 5) of the EDs. A total of 73% (n = 11) of the participants reported that they believed that there was a need for better pain management and/or sedation of children in their ED. There is an unmet need for paediatric procedural pain management in Scandinavian EDs. Scandinavian guidelines on paediatric pain management and sedation in the ED are needed.