Observational study to assess the effectiveness of post-operative pain management of patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries in a tertiary care hospital

ABSTRACT

Background: Patients undergoing major surgical operations continue to experience pain with an overall reported incidence of 29.7% for moderate-to-severe pain and 10.9% for severe pain. Even in developed countries, 86% of patients experience postsurgical pain and 75% of those who reported pain described its severity as moderate-to-severe during the immediate postoperative period Major abdominal surgical operations ideally require the Acute Pain Management Service (APMS) for regular pain assessment and timely management of breakthrough pains and complications in the postoperative period. Aim of the study To determine the effectiveness of Postoperative Analgesia used for Major Abdominal surgery and its efficacy and safety. Materials and methods: 38 Patients under General Anesthesia and 13 Patients under Regional + General Anesthesia who underwent major Laparotomy procedures were included in the study. Data regarding the type of postoperative Analgesia, Co–Analgesic used (NSAIDS, Paracetamol in oral/suppository form) during both intra and postoperative period were noted. All patients were followed on the first and second postoperative day at 4 PM. Pain severity with VAS score, side effects of Analgesia and Patient satisfaction with Pain management were recorded. Sindhu, Naheed Azhar, Nalini. Observational study to assess the effectiveness of post-operative pain management of patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries in a tertiary care hospital. IAIM, 2019; 6(5) 98-103. Page 99 Results: Use of Epidural Analgesia and Multimodal approach for Postoperative Pain relief greatly improves the patient satisfaction and early recovery of patients undergoing Major Abdominal surgeries. Conclusions: Although there is limited drug availability, regular assessments and appropriate dose adjustments and Use of Epidural and multimodal analgesic practice led to a high level of patient satisfaction