Evaluation of Paramedic Pre-hospital's Analgesic Management of Trauma Patients.

BACKGROUND

Although analgesic management is a critical priority in the guidelines for trauma patients, paramedics' prehospital administration practices vary.

OBJECTIVES

This study evaluated the paramedics' practices regarding prehospital analgesia administration in trauma patients.

METHODS

The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the records of patients 18 years and above who were brought to our hospital via ambulance were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 506 patients with trauma were included in this phase of the study. In the second phase, paramedics' practices regarding pre-hospital analgesic administration to trauma patients, such as drugs, and frequency. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and are presented as mean ± standard deviation for numerical variables and as frequency and percentage for nominal variables. Nominal variables were evaluated using the Pearson Chi-Square test.

RESULTS

According to data collected retrospectively in the first phase of the study, prehospital analgesia was administered to only 1% of the 506 patients. In the second phase of the study, when asked about the reasons for not administering prehospital analgesia, it was found that 77.5% of paramedics believed that doing so would interfere with the hospital physician's examination.

CONCLUSION

High rates of interventions such as spinal board immobilization, cervical collar application, and appropriate splinting or dressing have been observed in trauma patients. Paramedics were also found to be quite successful in establishing intravenous access. However, the rates of fluid administration and analgesia were considerably lower compared to the literature.