title: Patients do not receive sufficient analgesia.
abstract: This American study sought to compare patient and practitioner assessments of pain associated with commonly performed emergency department procedures and use of anaesthetics before these procedures. It was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study conducted at a university-based ED with a convenience sample of ED patients. Research assistants recorded the procedure performed and historical and demographic information on standardised data collection instruments. After each procedure, both the patient and practitioner independently recorded assessments of patient pain on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS). Use of preprocedure anaesthetics and patient preferences regarding their use were also identified. Categorical variables were analysed by two tests. Correlation coefficients were calculated to assess correlation between patient and practitioner pain scores.