Time to Reconsider Analgesia in Mass Casualty Incidents

Abstract

The provision of analgesia in mass casualty incidents has traditionally been viewed as low-priority and reserved for later stages of care. Poor pain management is commonplace in trauma victims, and inadequate acute pain management can hinder evacuation efforts and may lead to the development of chronic pain and posttraumatic stress disorder. New, safe, and simple methods for administering quality analgesia have proven to be safe and effective in the prehospital setting and, as such, could easily be implemented into mass casualty incident protocols and allow for analgesia at earlier stages in such incidents, thereby improving patient care.

Keywords: Major Incident Medical Management and Support; fentanyl lozenge; methoxyflurane; prehospital emergency care; sublingual sufentanil; trauma.