Hailey Frye discusses improvement of pain management for nephrolithiasis

A study from the American Urological Association Annual Advocacy Summit evaluated pain management in patients with nephrolithiasis. The study, presented by Hailey Frye, incorporated data from a 14-hospital health system. In an interview with Urology Times®, Frye was asked how she envisions this framework being adapted and implemented in smaller or independent hospital settings with limited resources.

“The benefit of being here at the University of Minnesota is that we have a bunch of different types of settings to be able to trial this…Implementing [this] into a smaller health care system, you're able to focus on what are the specific needs of your 1 setting, and so as simple as updating the electronic medical record to include a stone order set that kind of provides a checklist for the emergency department colleagues to say, “This is a good starting place for pain management of kidney stones, and what would urologists look for before sending them up for admission?” Because if you're implementing this in a smaller setting, you're able to have those conversations directly with colleagues. And so just really identifying the needs and prioritizing the needs if a system has limited resources, figuring out what are our top priorities and our best options to provide equitable care,” said Frye, a medical student at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Frye was also asked what further research she believed is necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms driving these disparities and develop targeted interventions.

“I think there are disparities in pain management in all different fields of medicine and public health in general. I believe really combining both that quantitative and qualitative approach to research is going to be the best way to make strides so that people feel like their pain is adequately heard and understood and addressed when they go to the health care system. Having that data-driven approach to uncover these disparities in your own system, whether it's prescribing trends, revisit rates or comparing pain scores upon discharge, but then also talking with patients and saying, ‘How is this experience for you? How do you feel like your pain is managed?’”

REFERENCE

1. Frye HH, Ganesan V, Agarwal D, Patterson B, Herman A, Borofsky MS. Need for pain management policies: Uncovering hidden biases in pain management of nephrolithiasis. Presented at: American Urological Association Annual Urology Advocacy Summit. March 3-5, 2025. Washington. https://www.auasummit.org/virtual-poster-session