Pain score, desire for pain treatment and effect on pain satisfaction in the emergency department: a prospective, observational study.

Background: Pain management in the Emergency Department has often been described as inadequate, despite proven benefits of pain treatment protocols. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of our current pain protocol on pain score and patient satisfaction whilst taking the patients' wishes for analgesia into account.

Methods: We conducted a 10-day prospective observational study in the Emergency Department.