Prehospital and emergency department analgesia for air-transported patients with fractures.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate prehospital and receiving emergency department (ED) analgesia administration in air-transported patients with isolated fractures. METHODS: The study was a retrospective descriptive analysis of flight and hospital records. Study patients were consecutive adults (not pharmacologically paralyzed) with fractures undergoing scene or interfacility helicopter transport during 1994-1996. The study aeromedical program uses two helicopters staffed by a nurse/paramedic flight crew providing protocol-guided care. The receiving ED was in an urban academic Level I trauma center (annual census 65,000). Primary data collected were timing and amount of prehospital and ED analgesia. Analysis was mainly descriptive, with chi-square and nonparametric methods used to compare patients who did and did not receive intratransport fentanyl. RESULTS: 130 patients with isolated fractures underwent air transport during the study period 1994-1996. Of these, 98 (75.4%) received intratransport fentanyl; 20 of 98 (20.4%) received no analgesia in the receiving ED. Patients who did receive repeat analgesia in the receiving ED (n = 78, 79.6% of those receiving prehospital fentanyl) had a median interval of 42.5 minutes (interquartile range 25-100) between ED arrival and analgesia administration; only 62.8% of these patients received their ED analgesia within 60 minutes of arrival. CONCLUSIONS: Some patients receiving intratransport fentanyl received no ED analgesia, and those who did receive ED analgesia often had administration delays surpassing the clinical half-life of intratransport-administered fentanyl. Further study should investigate whether setting-specific analgesia practice differences reflect true differences in analgesia needs, overmedication by prehospital providers, or undermedication by ED staff.

Prehospital fentanyl analgesia in air-transported pediatric trauma patients.

OBJECTIVE: To review the 5.5-year safety record of a protocol guiding fentanyl administration to pediatric trauma patients undergoing aeromedical transport. METHODS: Retrospective review of an urban aeromedical program's trauma scene responses from October 1991 to March 1997 identified the study population as all pediatric patients (age <15 years) receiving fentanyl for analgesia during air transport. Patients receiving fentanyl concurrently with other agents, eg, paralytics, were not studied. The air transport team consisted of a flight nurse and flight paramedic who provided protocol-driven patient care with off-line medical control. Study patients' flight records were reviewed to determine vital signs (systolic blood pressure [SBP], heart rate [HR], and oxygen saturation [SAT]) before and after fentanyl administration. Postfentanyl vital signs were reviewed for evidence of hemodynamic or ventilatory compromise. Pre- and postfentanyl vital signs were compared with the paired t test (P < 0.05). Flight records were also analyzed for narrative information, eg, naloxone administration and assisted ventilation, indicative of fentanyl side effects. RESULTS: Fentanyl (0.33-5.0 microg/kg) was administered 211 times to 131 patients who had a median age of 6.2 years (0.1-14 years), median Glasgow coma score (GCS) of 9 (3-15), and a mean pediatric trauma score of 8.3+/-2.4. Seventy-nine (60.3%) patients were intubated; these patients received 139 (65.9 %) of the 211 total fentanyl doses. No adverse effects from fentanyl were noted in flight record narratives. The median interval between fentanyl administration and postfentanyl vital sign assessment was 9.5 minutes (1-35 minutes). Median postfentanyl changes in SBP and HR were -4.7 and -2.9%, respectively. No patient became hypotensive after fentanyl administration. In nonintubated patients, mean postfentanyl SAT (99.2+/-1.3%) was not significantly different (P = 0.70) from prefentanyl SAT (99.1+/-1.3%), and no patient was noted to have clinically significant SAT decrement after fentanyl. CONCLUSION: Retrospective review of more than five years of prehospital fentanyl administration revealed no untoward events. Although prospective definitive demonstration of fentanyl's field use is pending, it is reasonable to continue discretionary fentanyl administration to injured pediatric children in pain.