THE FIRST YEAR'S EXPERIENCE OF AN ACUTE PAIN SERVICE

The benefits, risks and resource implications of providing an Acute Pain Service were assessed during the first year of the service. Six hundred and sixty patients recovering from major surgery were treated with patient-controlled analgesia (510 patients) or extradural infusion analgesia (150 patien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of anaesthesia : BJA 1991-09, Vol.67 (3), p.353-359
Main Authors: WHEATLEY, R.G., MADEJ, T.H., JACKSON, I.J.B., HUNTER, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
acute pain service
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Analgesia, Epidural
Analgesia, Patient-Controlled
Anesthesia
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Biological and medical sciences
Bupivacaine - therapeutic use
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Female
Heroin - therapeutic use
Humans
Local anesthesia. Pain (treatment)
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Morphine - therapeutic use
Pain Measurement
Pain, Postoperative - drug therapy
Pain: postoperative
Patient Care Team - standards
Patient Satisfaction
Postoperative Complications - etiology
Prospective Studies
Retrospective Studies
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Summary:The benefits, risks and resource implications of providing an Acute Pain Service were assessed during the first year of the service. Six hundred and sixty patients recovering from major surgery were treated with patient-controlled analgesia (510 patients) or extradural infusion analgesia (150 patients). The results of a prospective outcome study showed that pain control was good: more than 60% of patients scored their pain as mild during the first 24h. Only 10% of patients complained of severe postoperative pain. Eight patients developed potentially serious complications including respiratory depression and hypotension; the diagnosis and management of these problems on general wards is discussed. Retrospective analysis of the incidence of postoperative chest infection in surgical patients showed a marked reduction during the first year of the service (1.3% in 1988, 0.4% in 1989–90 (P < 0.01))
ISSN:0007-0912
1471-6771
DOI:10.1093/bja/67.3.353