Characterization of Emergency Department Quality Assurance Cases Seen Within a Midwestern United States Health System.

Background: Hospital quality-assurance (QA) processes, including peer-review committees, seek to identify high-risk areas.

Purpose: To characterize emergency department (ED) cases sent for QA review.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted of ED cases sent to a QA committee from November 2018 through July 2022 at three midwestern US hospitals.

Pain rating schema: three distinct subgroups of individuals emerge when rating mild, moderate, and severe pain.

Background: While the validity of pain assessment has been well documented, the underlying schema (ie, organized, preconceived ideas) of how individuals interpret numerical pain ratings is not well understood. This study's objectives were to examine numerical pain intensity ratings, from (0 to 10 cm on the visual analog scale [VAS]) across multiple severities of commonly experienced acute pain conditions to determine whether the ratings differed between these pain conditions and/or between individuals.

Methods: A community sample (N=365, 66% female) rated their anticipated pain intensity (VAS) for threshold, mild, moderate, severe, and tolerance level, using several common pain conditions: headache, toothache, joint injury, delayed-onset muscle soreness, burns, and "general pain.