New publication: Racial differences in opiate administration for pain relief at an academic emergency department.

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Kuehnle, chief resident, on her recent publication, Racial differences in opiate administration for pain relief at an academic emergency department. Quoting the conclusion from the abstract, "No race-based disparity in overall analgesia administration was noted for all three conditions: [long bone fracture], migraine, and back pain at this institution. A race-based disparity in the likelihood of receiving opiate analgesia for back pain was observed in this ED. The etiology of this is likely multifactorial, but understanding physician and patient characteristics of institutions may help to decrease the disparity by raising awareness of practice patterns and can provide the basis for quality improvement projects." PubMed ID 25987909 (link)