“…In 2001, a research group questioned medical control physicians who refused prehospital analgesia, and found analgesia refusal was due to the following perceptions by base station physicians: 1) Pain is inevitable; 2) Pain treatment isn't a priority (i.e., as compared with diagnosis and other therapies); 3) Analgesics interfere with the diagnostic process and also have other (physiologic) side effects; and 4) Prehospital analgesia precludes hospital providers' obtaining informed consent for necessary interventions. The group found that medical control pain medication refusal was attributable to biases (race, sex, age), poor EMS-physician communications, inadequate assessment of pain levels, and physician indifference (48).…”