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Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Objective Nociceptive Assessment in Ventilated ICU Patients: A Feasibility Study Using Pupillometry and the Nociceptive Flexion Reflex
Published on: July 4, 2018
Factors associated with unoffered trauma analgesia in critical care transport
Michael A Frakes1, Wendy R Lord2, Christine Kociszewski3
1LIFE STAR/Hartford Hospital, PO Box 5037, Hartford, CT 06102-5037, USA; Boston MedFlight, Bedford, MA 01730, USA.
Objective:
Pain relief is a key out-of-hospital patient care outcome measure, yet many trauma patients do not receive prompt analgesia. Although specialty critical care transport (CCT) teams provide analgesia frequently, successfully, and safely, there is still a population of CCT patients to whom analgesia is not offered. We report the factors associated with non-administration of analgesia and with analgesic effect in trauma patients cared for by CCT teams.
Methods:
This is a retrospective review of consecutive transport records for nonintubated trauma patients with self-reported pain during specialty CCT care. Patient demographics, CCT interventions, clinical traits, and pain self-reports are measured. Means comparisons are made with a univariate analysis of variance, and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported for between-group comparisons.
Results:
Of the 209 enrolled patients, 169 (80.9%; 95% CI, 75.6%-86.2%) were treated (147 received analgesia and 22 offered analgesia but refused). In patients with pain scale documentation (n=145), self-reported pain on a scale from 0 to 10 decreased from 6.8+/-2.8 to 3.3+/-2.4 (P
Conclusion:
The identified factors may represent opportunities for CCT teams to optimize analgesic treatment.
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