Oral Analgesic Utilization for CHildhood Musculoskeletal Injuries
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2015-06-22
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Pain management for children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with an injured limb
is often under-treated, even though it is known that broken arms and legs cause moderate to
severe pain. Further, children are less likely to receive appropriate pain medicine than
adults with similar injuries. This study aims to improve the pain treatment of children who
present to the ED with a suspected fracture, or broken bone or severe sprain. The
investigators will compare the use of 3 different possible medication combinations (ibuprofen
alone, oral morphine alone, or combined ibuprofen and oral morphine) to determine which
combination is the best at treating children's pain. The investigators also plan to verify
the safety of using these different drugs to treat children's pain.
The investigators strongly believe that children's pain should be optimally treated in the
ED. Adequately relieving children's pain is crucial, as inadequate pain treatment can have
both short and longterm effects on the child. It also generates unnecessary stress for both
the child and their caregivers/parents. Given this knowledge, the investigators feel that
their study has the potential to impact care provided in EDs, and improve pain management
safely, for children.