Annals of emergency medicine
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The National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization note that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for pain. Nonopioid treatment options for moderate to severe acute pain in the emergency department (ED) are limited. ⋯ Auricular Battlefield Acupuncture has been described as a simple, safe, rapid, and effective analgesic option to opioid medications in managing acute pain. We describe 4 cases in which emergency physicians with brief training performed this auricular acupuncture protocol to treat patients with acute pain in EDs when opioid analgesia was not an acceptable option.