INTRODUCTION: National guidelines for the acute management of Sickle Cell Disease Vaso-Occlusive episodes recommend the use of a patient-specific or a weight-based protocol. The authors compared patient satisfaction with pain management between those randomized to receive either a patient-specific or weight-based pain protocol in the COMPARE-VOE randomized control trial.
METHODS: Participants with Sickle Cell Disease were pre-enrolled and patient satisfaction with pain management was assessed at the time of discharge from the 6 participating emergency departments. Patients were randomized to receive a patient-specific or weight-based pain protocol. The authors compared continuous variables between the patient-specific and weight-based protocols with the 2-sample t test and categorical variables by the chi-square test.
RESULTS: The authors enrolled 104 Participants. Compared with satisfaction with pain management on previous ED visits, more Participants in the patient-specific protocol group than the weight-based group (57.1% vs 31.8%; P = .02) were satisfied with pain management. Most who were discharged home (91.2%) felt their pain was sufficiently relieved to be discharged home.
DISCUSSION: These findings support evidence-based guidelines to manage Vaso-Occlusive episodes in emergency departments. patient-specific protocols can be implemented by partnering with local Sickle Cell Disease providers to make protocols available in the emergency department.
