Reinforcing informed medication prescription for low back pain in the emergency department (RIME): a controlled interrupted time series implementation study protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Management guidelines for low back pain (LBP) recommend exclusion of serious pathology, followed by simple analgesics, superficial heat therapy, early mobilisation and patient education. An audit in a large metropolitan hospital emergency department (ED) revealed high rates of non-recommended medication prescription for LBP (65% of patients prescribed opioids, 17% prescribed benzodiazepines), high inpatient admission rates (20% of ED LBP patients), delayed patient mobilisation (on average 6 hours) and inadequate patient education (48% of patients). This study aims to improve medication prescription for LBP in this ED by implementing an intervention shown previously to improve guideline-based management of LBP in other Australian EDs.

Methods and analysis

A contr

SUBMITTER: O'Leary S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10936499 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature