[Pain assessment and analgesia in pre-admission care of trauma patients].

Pain is one of the main complaints at admission in emergency services. This article aims at presenting pain assessment methods in trauma patients using objective tools in pre- and intra-hospital settings. The harmful effects of pain in the post-trauma patients, and the benefits of early analgesia are discussed. We found that acute pain in emergency wards is rarely studied in Brazil, which points out a significant gap in terms of care and research.