Impact Of Early Analgesia On Hospitalization For Sickle Cell Pain Crisis

National Institutes of Health guidelines for management of sickle cell acute pain suggests the use of an individualized prescribing protocol to improve outcomes for patients suffering from acute pain. The evidence that individualized pain plans improve clinical outcomes is limited and the recommendation is based on consensus opinion. Prior to implementing individualized inpatient SCD pain plans, we sought to evaluate the time required to achieve maximum opioid dose without individualized prescribing protocols and its negative impact on length of stay.