ThP6.12 - Pain relief prescribing in Surgical Emergency Unit triage: are prescribers helping to provide patients with humane care via prompt analgesia prescriptions, and can simple educational interventions improve timeliness?

Abstract

Abstract Aims The RCEM target for receipt of analgesia for moderate-severe pain is within 15 minutes of arrival in ED. This study aimed to establish if a surgical emergency triage unit was achieving a more generous target of analgesia prescription within 60 minutes of clerking, and whether this could be improved with educational interventions. Methods Records of patients presenting to triage were reviewed. Patients were excluded if they did not report pain of any cause, were under 18 years old, or were prescribed adequate analgesia by the referring department. The integrated EPR system enabled straightforward comparison of timestamps for arrival in the department, clerking by a registered prescriber, and first prescription. Data were considered for a full continuous week each time, in late August, and in mid-December 2023. Educational interventions were made between collection periods: a teaching session about analgesia in emergency surgery; a presentation of first round results at a departmental meeting; and ‘postcards’ attached to all workstations highlighting the EPR pathway. Results Of encounters in which analgesia was prescribed, there was an increase in the proportion of prescriptions made within 60 minutes of clerking, from 67% to 86%. This increase was observed across all prescriber grades, both rotational and non-rotational. Conclusions The precise quantifiable impact of the educational interventions is unclear as the study period spans a changeover for FY1s, but the increase in timely prescription at all grades indicates some effect. This is reassuring from a perspective of considering human patient care.