Abstract

MACHADO-ALBA, JORGE et al. CONTROL OF POSTOPERATIVE PAIN IN PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL. rev.fac.med [online]. 2013, vol.21, n.1, pp.46-53. ISSN 0121-5256.

Introduction: Pain management should be adapted and optimized according to the conditions of each hospital, type of surgery and patient. Objectives: To evaluate the perception of pain in postoperative patients at Hospital Universitario San Jorge of Pereira. Materials and methods: A descriptive observational study in patients older than 18 years, between September 2nd to October 28, 2011. The assessment of postoperative pain intensity was performed by visual analogue scale 24 hours after surgery. We considered socio-demographic, clinical (type of surgery, anesthesia, risk) and pharmacological variables (drugs used, dosage, dosage intervals). The analysis was done with SPSS 20.0 for Windows. Results: We evaluated 153 patients in the postoperative period, 80 (52.3%) women and 73 (47.7%) males, mean age 47.6 ± 20.2 years. 38.8% of patients did not obtain pain control. The variables of orthopedic surgery, the use of intravenous general anesthesia, and suboptimal dosage was statistically significantly associated with lack of control. Conclusions: Pain control was inadequate thus showing the need to redefine its management by following clinical practice guidelines, through the use of analgesics in doses and appropriate intervals.

Keywords : Pain measurement; visual analogue pain scale; analgesics; opioid; non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents; clinical practice guideline; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )