International emergency nursing
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Although acute pain is a common presentation in the Emergency Department (ED), analgesics are often delayed until the patient is seen by a physician. We assessed the effect of a medical directive for nurse-initiated analgesia on time to first dose of analgesics, proportion of patients receiving analgesics in less than 30min, and total length of stay in the ED. ⋯ A medical directive for nurse-initiated analgesia in the ED was associated with significantly reduced time to the first dose of analgesic, and increased the proportion of patients receiving analgesics within 30min. We can conclude that medical directives for nurse-initiated analgesia effectively improve the timeliness and quality of care for patients with acute pain.