Acute pain management in emergency medicine

BMC Emergency Medicine is calling for submissions to our Collection on acute pain management in emergency medicine. Acute pain management in emergency medicine is a critical area of practice that requires timely and effective interventions to enhance patient outcomes. The unique challenges presented in emergency settings, including the high variability of patient presentations and the need for rapid decision-making, necessitate a comprehensive approach to pain management. This Collection aims to explore various strategies for alleviating acute pain, focusing on the latest evidence and innovations that inform clinical practices in emergency departments (EDs).

Addressing acute pain effectively is paramount for improving patient satisfaction, reducing the duration of emergency visits, and preventing the progression to chronic pain. Recent advances in multimodal analgesia, procedural sedation, and the use of non-opioid analgesics have opened new avenues for managing pain while minimizing the risks associated with opioid prescribing. Moreover, the development of standardized pain assessment protocols and innovative techniques such as nerve blocks highlights the importance of ongoing research in refining pain management strategies in emergency care.

Continued research in acute pain management could lead to groundbreaking advancements in pain relief methodologies, optimizing the use of existing analgesic agents, and the integration of emerging technologies. Future studies may also explore the efficacy of personalized pain management plans and the incorporation of patient-reported outcomes to enhance treatment effectiveness. As a result, we may see a shift toward more holistic approaches that consider individual patient needs, ultimately improving the overall quality of care in emergency medicine.

We invite contributions that examine a broad range of topics related to acute pain management in emergency medicine, including, but not limited to:

Advances in multimodal analgesia
Innovative pain assessment techniques
Opioid prescribing practices in ED
Efficacy of nerve blocks for acute pain relief
Procedural sedation in emergency settings
Regional anesthesia practices for pain management in the emergency department

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer-review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

Submit your manuscript to this collection through the participating journal.

Joseph Brown MD

University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, United States.

Dr Joseph Brown is the Education Lead for the Ultrasound Group at the University of Colorado and an Associate Program Director for the Denver Health Residency in Emergency Medicine. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He has lectured at American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Society of Academic Emergency Physicians, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM), the Rocky Mountain Wilderness Conference as well as multiple other national and international conferences. Dr Brown is an avid educator and in addition to numerous Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Block focused educational workshops/presentations has held roles including Airway Director and Director of Faculty Education in previous academic appointments. He has over 20 peer-reviewed publications and is an author on over 10 book chapters. Finally, he was a principal author in the ACEP policy statement on ultrasound-guided nerve blocks in the ED, a co-founder of the National Ultrasound-guided neRVE (NURVE) block registry, and a co-founder of BlockHeads.
Richard Gawel MD

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, United States.

Dr Richard Gawel is an emergency medicine physician and researcher at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. His work centers on improving acute pain management in the emergency department, with interests spanning multimodal analgesia, ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, and the organizational and systems-level factors that influence the delivery of pain care. Dr Gawel has contributed to research examining practice patterns, barriers to adopting evidence-based analgesic strategies, and opportunities to enhance the safety and equity of acute pain treatment. He is actively involved in initiatives focused on clinician education, implementation of nerve blocks and regional anesthesia in the ED, and the development of practical tools to support high-quality, patient-centered analgesic care in emergency settings.
Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan MSc, PhD, RN, RM

All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhubaneswar, India.

Dr Rakesh Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Nursing at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar—a premier central government institution—since March 2018. With more than 15 years of professional experience, his nursing career began in 2004 and culminated in a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (2009) followed by a Master of Science in Nursing from AIIMS, New Delhi (2012). After completing his postgraduate studies, Dr Vadakkethil Radhakrishnan worked for five years in the Emergency Department’s clinical nursing services at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS). Since 2021, he has been pursuing a PhD in Nursing through the National PhD Consortium established by the Indian Nursing Council. He has also completed certified courses in Health Research Fundamentals (NIE, Chennai, 2017), Systematic Reviews (Johns Hopkins University, 2020), and Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions (University of Pennsylvania, December 2025).His research interests align with national health priorities, as reflected in several peer‑reviewed publications, an H-index of over 15, and an i10-index of 17. He contributes to academic and professional development as a resource person for simulation training at the Institute and as a speaker at research workshops and conferences. His research interests include trauma, epidemiology, pain management, emergency nursing, and the psychological impact of trauma. His professional interests center on emergency and critical care nursing, evidence-based practice, and capacity building in research, with a strong commitment to advancing scientific inquiry and evidence-based medicine.