Acute postoperative pain management by a surgical team in a tertiary care hospital: patients satisfaction

ABSTRACT

To assess the acute postoperative pain management by a surgical team and patient satisfaction in a tertiary care teaching hospital. 105 patients, ASA I and II, both sexes, mean age of 35.1 +/- 14.6 years, scheduled for general surgery under routine practice conditions, were included in the study. All patients were assessed 12 and 24 hours postoperatively by two numerical visual analogue scale [VAS 0-10], related to rest and dynamic pain. Patients were also requested to indicate their satisfaction level with the help of VAS. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 10. Student t test was applied to find significant differences between the groups. At 12 hours postoperatively mean rest and dynamic pain scores were 3.85 +/- 2.45 and 5.32 +/- 2.61 respectively. At 24 hours postoperatively mean rest and dynamic pain scores were 2.84 +/- 1.86 and 4.65 +/- 2.47 respectively. Overall, female patients experienced more pain but there was no statistically significant difference apart from rest pain at 24 hours. Forty-seven [44.8%] patients were very satisfied, 42 [40%] moderately satisfied and 16 [15.2%] patients were mildly satisfied with the pain management. Overall management of acute postoperative pain by surgical team in a tertiary care hospital was satisfactory. Most of patients were moderately to very satisfied by the care provided