Auricular Acupuncture in Emergency Department Treatment of Acute Pain.
The National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization note that acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for pain. Nonopioid treatment options for moderate to severe acute pain in the emergency department (ED) are limited. Additional strategies for managing acute pain in the ED are needed. Auricular Battlefield Acupuncture has been described as a simple, safe, rapid, and effective analgesic option to opioid medications in managing acute pain. We describe 4 cases in which emergency physicians with brief training performed this auricular acupuncture protocol to treat patients with acute pain in EDs when opioid analgesia was not an acceptable option.
Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York, NY.
Shiu-Lin
SL
Tsai
Department of Emergency Medicine, Bellevue Hospital/NYU School of Medicine, and the New York City Poison Control Center, New York, NY.
Lindsay M
LM
Fox
Department of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain Medicine, University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA.
Mikiko
M
Murakami
Department of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Electronic address: jtsung@gmail.com.
James W
JW
Tsung
D020831:Acupuncture, Ear / Q000379:methods; D059787:Acute Pain / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000628:therapy; D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult