Pain relief in US emergency rooms is related to patients' race
BMJ 2000; 320 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7228.139/a (Published 15 January 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:139- Deborah Josefson
- San Francisco
Patients from ethnic minorities seen in emergency rooms are relatively undertreated for pain, according to a new study (Annals of Emergency Medicine 2000;35:11-6, 77-81).
Doctors at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, conducted a retrospective analysis of the medical charts of 217 patients who had presented with long bone fractures to a single urban emergency department over 40 months.
Of the total, 127 patients were black and 90 were white. The patients had similar injuries and similar complaints of pain. Overall, 43%of the black patients received no pain medication whereas only …
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