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Pain & sedation
Prehospital pain assessment happens too rarely
A Systematic Review of Pain Assessment Tools in Prehospital Emergency Care: Evidence from Observational Studies
Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2026-06-10 · Added 16 October 2026
Systematic review of eight prehospital observational studies found pain was assessed and documented in only 22.5% to 46.7% of patients, well below recommended standards.
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Design
- Systematic review (PRISMA 2020) of observational studies
- Participants
- 8 observational studies of prehospital pain assessment
- Main finding
- Prehospital pain was assessed and documented in only 22.5–46.7% of patients; pain-management interventions were associated with reduced pain intensity but could not be pooled
- Caveat
- Only eight heterogeneous observational studies with no quantitative synthesis
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). Pain scales and documentation expectations are standard across Australian services, so the documentation gap described here is a fair mirror for prehospital practice anywhere.
Learning goal
Strengthen my routine assessment and documentation of pain for all prehospital patients, including those unable to self-report.
More
- Topic: Pain & sedation
- Daily scan: 16 October 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 16 October 2026
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