Use of and attitudes to the role of medication for acute whiplash injury: A preliminary survey of emergency department doctors.

OBJECTIVE: Describe current practice of medication prescribing for acute whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) in the ED and explore attitudes towards pregabalin prescription for WAD.

METHODS: Questionnaire-based survey in two EDs collected data on demographics and self-reported medication prescribing for WAD. Comfort in various scenarios for pregabalin prescribing was rated.

RESULTS: A total of 145/170 (85%) doctors responded; 42.8% were junior doctors. Self-reported medications prescribed were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (77.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 70.1-84.2]), paracetamol (75.2% [95% CI 67.2-81.8]), opioids (43.5% [95% CI 35.3-51.9]) and benzodiazepines (11.0% [95% CI 6.6-17.6]). Most were comfortable to prescribe pregabalin in evidence-based or advised-by-specialists scenarios.

CONCLUSIONS: Opioids appear to be over-prescribed. Further research into pregabalin prescription in ED is warranted.