National Study Finds Emergency Departments Often Miss Timely Opioid Care for Sickle Cell Pain

Overview

• An analysis of 398,895 emergency visits at 233 U.S. centers from 2019 to 2024 found only 32.5% received a first opioid dose within the guideline-recommended 60 minutes.
• For visits with multiple doses, just 36% met ASH timing for a second dose and only 9% met NHLBI’s stricter 30-minute standard.
• Adults, women, and publicly insured patients were less likely to receive guideline-adherent care, with pediatric visits showing substantially better timeliness than adult visits.
• Researchers point to limited clinician familiarity with adult sickle cell protocols, concerns about opioid dependence, and implicit bias as likely drivers of delays.
• The multicenter findings, presented at the 67th ASH Annual Meeting, contrast with higher adherence reported in smaller pediatric-specialty studies and call for training and workflow integration of standardized protocols.