Anchoring Patients Pain Scores in the Emergency Department

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Detailed Description
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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.

Official Title
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Anchoring Patients Pain Scores in the Emergency Department

Conditions
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Abdominal Pain, Chest Pain, Headache, Joint Pain, Muscle Pain, Back Pain, Neck Pain

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Measurement of Pain


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Lower Anchor Survey<br>Patients will likely rate their pain lower. | Other: Measurement of Pain<br>* Patients will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit to the ED.<br>|
| Higher Anchor Survey<br>Patients will likely rate their pain higher. | Other: Measurement of Pain<br>* Patients will fill out a brief survey concerning the current visit to the ED.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Utilization of a questionnaire to measure the mean pain scores between two intervention groups based on the numeric pain score scale | 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. | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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. | 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. | Through study completion, an average of 1 year | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Emergency Room