Anchoring Patients Pain Scores in the Emergency Department

The proposed research will be a prospective, observational study to test the hypothesis that anchoring will affect verbal pain scores in the emergency department. There will be a small retrospective aspect to this study to obtain patient satisfaction ratings.

Completed

Looking for future studies?

Notify Me

Key information

Conditions

Abdominal Pain Arthralgia Back Pain Chest Pain Disease Attributes Emergencies Headache Joint Diseases Joint Pain Muscle Pain Muscular Diseases Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal Pain Myalgia Neck Pain Nervous System Diseases Neurologic Manifestations Neuromuscular Diseases Pain Pathologic Processes Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms Signs and Symptoms, Digestive

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

CHRISTUS Spohn Health System

Corpus Christi, Texas, 78404, United States

About this study

The investigators will evaluate a convenience sample of patients presenting to the ED with a complaint of pain. Patients will be consented for participation and will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit in the ED. There will be two forms of the survey. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two survey forms. Participants will first be asked if their pain score for this visit is greater than or less than an anchor number provided. In this survey, the investigators will use 20 and 80 as our anchoring numbers. The participants will then have a follow up question asking them to estimate their pain score on a 0-100 scale. Investigators will then perform a chart review to determine patient satisfaction scores for that specific visit to determine if the anchoring effect has any input on patient satisfaction scores.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

18 years of age or older
Presenting to the ED with a chief complaint of any type of pain

Exclusion criteria

Under 18 years of age
Refusal to consent
Incarcerated patients
Pregnant patients
Unable to complete survey secondary to clinical instability, severe pain, or disorientation determined by a study physician

Treatment and study plan

Measurement of Pain

Other

Patients will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit to the ED.

Primary outcomes

Utilization of a questionnaire to measure the mean pain scores between two intervention groups based on the numeric pain score scale

Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 1 year

A questionnaire will be used to measure pain scores by utilizing a numeric pain scale (0-100) and measure the effect of anchoring bias on pain scores in the Emergency Department. It is hypothesized that a lower pain score anchor will lead to a lower reported pain score by the patient.

Secondary outcomes

An analysis to examine the influence of anchoring on patient satisfaction for patients with common chief complaints related to pain in the Emergency Department. It is unknown if anchoring affects a patient's overall satisfaction.

Time frame: Through study completion, an average of 1 year

Patients receive Press-Ganey questionnaire to evaluate their visit to the Emergency Department. We will measure if the anchoring pain score affects the patients overall satisfaction with their Emergency Department care.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

CHRISTUS Health

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2020
Primary completion: 2021
Study completion: 2021
First posted: Jan 22, 2021
Registry last updated: Apr 7, 2022

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed