Acute pain management after trauma: What you need to know

Abstract

Effective acute pain control is mandatory after injury. Opioids continue to be a pillar acute pain management of strategies despite not being as effective as some non-narcotic alternatives. An acute pain management strategy after trauma should be thoughtful, effective, and responsible. A thoughtful approach includes managing a patient’s expectations for acute pain control and ensuring interventions purposefully and rationally affect the domain of pain which is uncontrolled. An effective pain management strategy includes a multi-modal approach using acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and regional anesthesia. A responsible acute pain management approach includes knowing the relative strengths of the opioids prescribed and standardized approach to opioid prescribing at discharge to minimize diversion. Acute pain management is quite understudied and future considerations include a reliable, objective measurement of pain and the evaluation of non-medication acute pain interventions.