Ketamine and Morphine Versus Morphine Alone for the Treatment of Acute Pain in the Emergency Department

Our goal is to study whether giving people low dose ketamine along with morphine when they come to the Emergency Department will help their pain more than giving morphine by itself. There have been many studies showing that low dose ketamine is safe and effective for pain control. Ketamine is frequently used for pain control in ambulances and helicopters transporting injured patients to the hospital and has also been used for pain control in people who have just had surgery. The investigators would like to see if low dose ketamine would be safe and effective for patients with pain in the Emergency Department.

Patients are eligible for the study if they come to the Emergency Department and their treating physician decides to treat them with morphine (with certain exceptions such as pregnant patients and patients with eye injuries). They will be given information about participating in the study and if they agree, they will be given the study drug. The study drug will be either ketamine or salt water (saline). If patients continue to be in pain they will continue to receive doses of morphine just as they would if they were not in the study. If the treating physician feels that morphine alone is not enough, they will be free to choose another pain medication as they would normally.