Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Pain is the most common presenting feature within the ED, yet undertreatment of pain in the ED is a well-documented problem worldwide. Despite the development of interventions to address this problem, there is still limited understanding of how pain management can be improved within the ED. This systematic mixed studies review aims to identify and critically synthesise research exploring staff views of barriers and enablers to pain management to understand why pain continues to be undertreated in the ED. ⋯ Overly focusing on environmental barriers as principal barriers to pain management may mask underlying beliefs that hinder improvements. Improving feedback on performance and addressing these beliefs may enable staff to understand how to prioritise pain management.
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Although frequent emergency department (ED) users have been widely studied in cross-sectional settings, there is some evidence suggesting that most frequent ED users do not remain frequent users over multiple consecutive years. The objective of this study was to explore the association between persistent multiyear frequent ED use and individuals' characteristics. ⋯ Differences exist between persistent and non-persistent frequent ED users that should be considered when implementing interventions designed to improve health outcomes and curtail healthcare expenditures generated by the broad population of frequent ED users.