PAin SoluTions In the Emergency Setting (PASTIES)

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  An open randomised trial of patient controlled analgesia (PCA) versus routine care in the Emergency Department

• IRAS ID

  74960

• Contact name

  Jason Smith

• Sponsor organisation

  Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

• Eudract number

  2011-000194-31

• ISRCTN Number

  n/a

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  n/a

• Research summary

  Pain is an extremely common presentation to Emergency Departments (EDs), but is often difficult to treat effectively (almost half of patients recently surveyed thought more could be done to treat their pain in the ED). Routine treatment of severe pain involves intermittent doses of intravenous morphine, administered by nurses.Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) is effective in many clinical settings, but there is very little evidence relating to its use in the ED. No previous study has investigated the issue of continuing a PCA from the emergency department and during the first few hours of a patient??s admission to hospital, to optimise their pain relief.The aim of this study is to compare PCA with routine care (nurse titrated analgesia) in adult emergency patients who present to the Emergency Department in severe pain from traumatic injuries or non-traumatic abdominal pain, and are then admitted to an inpatient ward. We plan to undertake a non-blinded randomised trial of PCA versus routine care in these patients. The primary outcome is a self-administered visual analogue scale pain score, completed hourly for 12 hours. Secondary outcomes include total opioid dose and other analgesic use, adverse effects, and patient satisfaction. An economic evaluation will compare PCA with standard care in a cost-effectiveness analysis.This study is funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme.

• REC name

  South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  11/SC/0151

• Date of REC Opinion

  20 May 2011

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion