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Chronic Pain and Aberrant Drug-Related Behavior in the Emergency Department

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Knox H. Todd
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Extract

Pain is the single most common reason patients seek care in the emergency department. Given the prevalence of pain as a presenting complaint, one might expect emergency physicians to assign its treatment a high priority; however, pain is often seemingly invisible to the emergency physician. Multiple research studies have documented that the undertreatment of pain, or oligoanalgesia, is a frequent occurrence. Pain that is not acknowledged and managed appropriately causes dissatisfaction with medical care, hostility toward the physician, unscheduled returns to the emergency department, delayed return to full function, and potentially, an increased risk of litigation. Failure to recognize and treat pain may result in anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, increased oxygen demands with the potential for end organ ischemia, and decreased movement with an increased risk of venous thrombosis.

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Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , Winter 2005 , pp. 761 - 769
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2005

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