Timeliness and Adherence to Opioid Administration Guidelines for Acute Sickle Cell Pain in Pediatric Patients: A Comparison of Pediatric and Adult Emergency Departments
Comparison demonstrates higher adherence to opioid guidelines for managing pain in children versus adults, indicating disparities.
Key Points
This research investigates the differences in opioid administration timeliness and adherence to national guidelines for pediatric patients with sickle cell disease in emergency departments.
Analyzed data from the Epic Cosmos database involving 44,415 emergency department visits between 2019 and 2025.
Compared median times for first and second opioid doses in pediatric and adult emergency departments.
Calculated adherence rates to national pain treatment guidelines.
Median time to first opioid dose was 44 minutes in pediatric EDs vs. 76 minutes in adult EDs.
Median time to second opioid dose was 38 minutes in pediatric EDs vs. 78 minutes in adult EDs.
Adherence to pain treatment within one hour was 64.9% in pediatric EDs compared to 37.3% in adult EDs.