Reducing Emergency Department Burden Through the Implementation of Femoral Nerve Block in Patients with Femur Fractures

Background: The emergency room is a fast-paced, high-pressure environment that de-mands efficient, streamlined medical procedures. Preoperative femoral nerve blocks re-main underutilized and less discussed compared to traditional intravenous opioid ad-ministration. This study evaluates the analgesic efficacy of femoral nerve blocks and in-vestigates whether they can reduce opioid use, thereby decreasing the workload for emer-gency healthcare professionals. Methods: Patients with femoral fractures presenting to the emergency room were enrolled. A single emergency physician administered femoral nerve blocks in the treatment group (Group 1). The primary outcome was the improvement in pain scores measured by the numerical rating scale (NRS), while the secondary outcome was the frequency of intravenous opioid administration. These outcomes were compared with a standard care group receiving only intravenous opioids (Group 2). Results: Group 1 exhibited a greater reduction in NRS pain scores, with an average decrease of 4.96 com-pared to 3.99 in Group 2. Although the difference in opioid administration frequency ap-proached significance (1.35 in Group 1 vs. 1.64 in Group 2, p = 0.063), the trend favors re-duced opioid use in Group 1. Additionally, the mean time to an extra opioid administra-tion after the nerve block was 6.49 hours. Conclusions: Femoral nerve blocks provide su-perior analgesia for femoral fractures and may lower the reliance on intravenous opioids, potentially reducing the burden on emergency staff. Further research is warranted to con-firm these findings and assess the impact on opioid administration frequency.