Pain in emergency units: correlation with risk classification categories

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Pain Management
• Healthcare Triage

Background:

• Effective patient triage in emergency settings is crucial for resource allocation and timely care.
• Pain is a common presenting complaint, and its intensity can vary significantly among patients.
• Understanding the relationship between triage category and pain level can optimize patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between established risk classification categories and the reported pain levels of emergency service patients.
• To determine if specific triage colors are associated with particular pain intensities.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 611 patients undergoing risk classification.
• Data collected included demographics, comorbidities, symptom duration, medical specialty, signs, symptoms, outcome, triage color, and pain degree.
• Statistical analyses included Analysis of Variance, Chi-Square test, and Likelihood Ratio test.

Main Results:

• The majority of patients reported moderate pain intensity (25.9%).
• Patients in the red and blue triage categories reported less intense pain (no pain or mild pain, respectively).
• Conversely, patients in the green, yellow, and orange categories predominantly reported intense pain (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

• Pain intensity varies significantly across different emergency department risk classification categories.
• Red category patients were less likely to report pain, while green, yellow, and orange categories were associated with intense pain.
• Blue category patients predominantly experienced mild pain, highlighting the nuanced relationship between triage and pain perception.