Blacks, Hispanics less likely to get strong pain drugs in emerg...(abdominal pain. Differences in prescrib...),Health

• Black and Hispanic children
• Blacks in county and state hospitals
• Asians and other insured by Medicare
• All non-white patients in the Northeast

There is no evidence that non-whites have less severe or different types of pain when they arrive in the emergency department, Pletcher said. We think our data indicate that opioids are being underprescribed to minority emergency department patients, especially black and Hispanic patients.

The study was not designed to determine the causes of these ethnic disparities in care, and they are likely to complex, Pletcher said. The authors call for ongoing education of physicians and nursing staff on treatment of pain, and promotion of cultural awareness. They also call for more education of patients to advocate for their own pain control.

The paper suggests that changes in systems for pain management in the emergency department may be required, such as use of protocols allowing nurses to initiate pain control measures.

The study draws on data compiled by the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey conducted by the Census Bureau. The researchers analyzed nearly 375,000 emergency room visits over 13 years. About 42 percent of these visits were for pain.