Pharmacology of emergency department pain management and conscious sedation

Nearly every study reviewed has demonstrated that emergency medicine physicians inadequately treat pain. Considering the many pharmacologic agents available to emergency physicians for treating pain, oligoanalgesia should be condemned. The scope of emergency medicine encompasses many simple and complex situations in which pain can and should be controlled with individual agents or combinations of analgesics, sedatives, hypnotics, or alternative medications. This article reviews options and dosing regimens for pain control.