Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) is working with Warwick Clinical Trials Unit and Airedale NHS Foundation Trust to examine the effectiveness of Ketamine for those who have severe pain after a traumatic injury. The ambulance service currently uses Morphine, but evidence indicates that Ketamine works faster than Morphine. This trial compares which of these two drugs is more effective at managing pain after an injury. The findings from this study will provide the evidence base, to decide which pain drugs Yorkshire Ambulance Service paramedics will carry in the future.
YAS have trained over 200 paramedics to safely deliver the intervention, therefore, if you call an ambulance after sustaining an injury, you may be asked by the ambulance crew if you want to participate in the trial. There is no obligation to take part, and patients that chose not to participate will receive the current standard care pain relief. Patients that wish to take part in the trial will be randomized and will either receive ketamine or morphine. PACKMaN is a blinded randomised controlled trial, and this means we don’t know if you will receive ketamine or morphine.
If you do decide to participate, you will be asked to give frequent pain scores so the paramedic, to assess if the pain relief is effective. A member of our research team will call participants within a week or ask for your consent to use your data during the trial. In addition, we will also send you a questionnaire after three and 6 months to see how you are recovering.
To find out more about the trial, you can email us yas.research@nhs.net or packman@warwick.ac.uk, or visit the trial website – https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/ctu/trials/packman/
