Anestéziológia a intenzívna medicína 1/2015

Introduction of pain service – first results and experience

Aim: To improve, simplify, and unify the treatment of acute postoperative pain in the patients of the 1stDepartment of Surgery, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, by introducing standardized multimodal analgesia. Material and Methods: The created algorithm of the approach to postoperative pain is based on a combination of current recommendations and practice guidelines published in the literature and possibilities and experiences in our work places. The approach has been evaluated by means of anonymous questionnaires and statistical comparison of a group of 36 patients in 2013 before the introduction of standardized multimodal analgesia (group k2013) with a group of 2015 (ma2015 group) comprising 40 patients after the introduction of our algorithm. Results: Since 2013, we have increased the proportion of patients in whom postoperative pain does not exceed the value of VAS 3 within the first 24 hours from 38,9 % to 67,5 %. The average VAS score was lower in the group ma2015 than in the k2013 group during the observed period, and it was significantly lower within the first six hours. Conclusion: The creation and implementation of the algorithm of the treatment of postoperative pain led to a reduction in postoperative pain intensity over the first 24 hours and an increase in patient satisfaction.

Keywords: postoperative pain, algorithm introduction, multimodal analgesia.