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A Quality Initiative to Decrease Time Until Analgesic for Fracture-associated Pain in the Pediatric Emergency
Justin Davis1, Kristin Kappler2, Skye Stoker2
1Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Miss.
Insights
Implementing four key initiatives significantly reduced the median time to administer pain medication for pediatric long bone fractures. This improvement ensures faster pain relief for children in the emergency department.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Pain Management
- Quality Improvement
Background:
- Long bone fractures are a frequent cause of severe pain in pediatric emergency departments.
- Timely administration of analgesics is critical for effective pain management in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To decrease the median time to the first analgesic dose for long bone fracture pain in a pediatric emergency department to 36 minutes or less.
- To implement and evaluate a series of quality improvement initiatives.
Main Methods:
- Four initiatives were implemented using "plan, do, study, act" cycles.
- Interventions included staff education on triage, in-room triage, quality goal communication, and addressing barriers to care.
- Data on time to analgesic delivery was collected and analyzed.
Main Results:
- The median time to analgesic delivery decreased from 72 minutes to 33.5 minutes between April and July 2015.
- Following interventions, the average monthly median time to analgesia was 48.5 minutes, compared to 66.3 minutes in the prior year.
- These results demonstrate a significant reduction in pain management delays.
Conclusions:
- A multi-faceted quality improvement approach effectively reduced analgesic delivery times for pediatric long bone fractures.
- The implemented initiatives successfully improved the timeliness of pain management in the pediatric emergency department.
Abstract:
Long bone fractures are a common cause of pain in the pediatric emergency department (PED), and ensuring timely delivery of analgesic medications is essential for these children. We aimed to decrease the median time to the first dose of analgesic for long bone fracture-associated pain in our PED to 36 minutes or less by July 1, 2015.
Methods:
A series of 4 initiatives were implemented in successive "plan, do, study, act" rapid cycles. Initiatives consisted of educational interventions for staff regarding Emergency Severity Index procedures for triaging pain, transition to in-room triage, enhanced communication about quality goals using a "quality board," and ongoing staff educational sessions on outlier cases as well as biases and barriers to quality.
Results:
We implemented the initiatives from April through July of 2015. The monthly median time to analgesic delivery for long bone fracture-associated pain in the PED decreased from 72 minutes in April to 33.5 minutes in July of 2015. For 12 months following the first intervention, the average monthly median time to the first analgesic dose was 48.5 versus 66.3 minutes for the prior 12 months.
Conclusions:
A series of 4 interventions led to a decrease in the median time to the first dose of analgesic for long bone fracture-associated pain in the PED.
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