Impact of early analgesia on hospitalization outcomes for sickle cell pain crisis

Background Painful events are the leading cause of hospitalizations for patients with sickle cell disease. Individualized pain plans targeting patient‐specific maximum opioid dosing may shorten hospitalization length and are recommended by national guidelines. Prior to implementing individualized sickle cell pain plans, we tested the hypothesis that a shorter time to achieve a maximum opioid dose would improve hospitalization outcomes. Procedure Two‐year IRB‐approved, retrospective study of pediatric patients admitted for vaso‐occlusive crisis (VOC). We recorded the emergency department admission time, order entry time for the maximum opioid dose during the hospitalization, and time of discharge orders. We categorized patients as infrequent if they required