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Researchers analyzed electronic records for 6398 patients with blunt trauma to elicit the association between prehospital analgesic administration and patient characteristics (age, sex, race, ethnicity, severity of pain) as well as prehospital time. The study was conducted in a California emergency medical services system in which paramedics are “actively encouraged” to record a pain score and treat pain. At the time of the study, 78% of paramedics were white.
Overall, 8% of patients received prehospital analgesia (morphine). Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians were less likely to receive analgesia than whites (4%, 5%, and 3% vs. 10%). Patients with a pain score in the record, patients with higher pain scores, and those with longer prehospital tim…