Prehospital intravenous fentanyl administered by ambulance personnel: a cluster-randomised comparison of two treatment protocols.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prehospital acute pain is a frequent symptom that is often inadequately managed. The concerns of opioid induced side effects are well-founded. To ensure patient safety, ambulance personnel are therefore provided with treatment protocols with dosing restrictions, however, with the concomitant risk of insufficient pain treatment of the patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a liberal intravenous fentanyl treatment protocol on efficacy and safety measures.

Methods

A two-armed, cluster-randomised trial was conducted in the Central Denmark Region over a 1-year period. Ambulance stations (stratified according to size) were randomised to follow either a liberal treatment protocol (3 μg/kg) or a standard treatment protocol (2 μg/kg). The primary

SUBMITTER: Friesgaard KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6367789 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature