Intranasal Ketamine for Pain Control in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease and Vaso-occlusive Episode (VOE) in the PED

This will be a prospective observational cohort involving patients 3 to 25 years of age who present to the Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) at Jacobi Medical Center with vaso-occlusive episode (VOE) in moderate-severe pain (FACES or numeric rating scale ≥5) as determined at triage. Currently, the standard of treatment for VOE at our institution is intravenous (IV) line placement and IV opioid analgesia. The patient will receive intranasal (IN) Ketamine as the first parental analgesic, so as to provide more immediate pain relief while they wait for IV placement and IV analgesia, for opioid pain control, which is currently the standard of care at our institution. The primary objective of this study is to describe the analgesic effect of IN ketamine in treating moderate-to-severe pain due to VOE in the pediatric ED as measured by a pain scale rating at various time intervals following administration. Secondary objectives are to describe the effect of IN ketamine on the need for additional doses of opioid medications, patient satisfaction and disposition.