• Wayne Varndell, Margaret Fry, and Doug Elliott.
• Clinical Nurse Consultant, Prince of Wales Hospital Emergency Department, Randwick, NSW 2031, Australia; Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Wayne.Varndell@health.nsw.gov.au.
• Int Emerg Nurs. 2018 Sep 1; 40: 46-53.

AimThis paper reports a systematic literature review evaluating the impact and quality of pain management associated with nurse initiated analgesia in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED).BackgroundPain is a major presenting complaint for individuals attending the ED. Timely access to effective analgesia continues to be a global concern in the ED setting; emergency nurses are optimally positioned to improve detection and management of pain.DesignSystematic review.Databases And Data TreatmentFour databases - CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, ProQuest - the Cochrane Library and the National Institute of Clinical Excellence were searched from date of inception to December 2017; with no language restrictions applied. Studies were identified using predetermined inclusion criteria. Data were extracted and summarised and underwent evaluation using published valid criteria.ResultsTwelve articles met inclusion, comprising a wide range of analgesics and administration routes to manage mild to severe pain. Overall study quality was high; 7 studies included a form of comparison group. Patient outcome measures included time to analgesia (n = 12; 100%), change in pain score (n = 6; 50.0%); adverse events (n = 6; 50.0%); patient satisfaction (n = 5; 41.7%) and documenting pain assessment (n = 2; 16.7%).ConclusionNurse-initiated analgesia was associated with safe, timely and effective pain relief.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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