Pain relief today
Four decades ago, 60% of patients reported that they are dissatisfied with their postoperative pain. Today, the figure remains the same, in spite of development in the field of pain relief, new medication and ways of administering drugs.
Pain is unpleasant and can be harmful to the patient. The medical professional therefore does its utmost to relieve pain after surgery. Nowadays, pain relief is regarded as a basic human right, making it morally and ethically unacceptable not to receive adequate analgesia after surgery.
What are the advantages of good postoperative pain relief?
| Patients' comfort |
Patients who receive pain killers have less pain and feel better. |
| Improved postoperative mobility, leading to improved recovery and
decreased hospital stay |
A patient is pain free if he or she can move around and cough without
experiencing pain. Patients who have undergone a thoracotomy, for example,
can be kept almost pain free with epidural analgesia. They can have
physiotherapy comfortably and be mobilised into a chair one day or less
after the surgery. |
| Improved respiratory function |
Effective pain relief can improve breathing and coughing with less risk
for retention of secretions, development of complications such as
pneumonia and less risk for hypoxia. |
| Decreased risk for cardiac complications |
As blood pressure and heart rate increase as a result of pain, oxygen
consumption in the myocardium is increased. There is often also a decrease
in oxygen supply due to poor respiratory function. Poor postoperative pain
control can lead to a myocardial infarct. |
| Decreased risk for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) |
The risk for DVT after procedures such as hip or prostate surgery is
less if the patient receives epidural analgesia. The frequency of
postoperative clotting of vascular grafts is also less. |
| Improved gastro-intestinal function with earlier gut motility and
earlier feeding |
Patients who have epidural analgesia after major abdominal surgery can
be fed a liquid diet the day after surgery. |
| Decrease in general stress response |
Decreased stress response has many advantages, including better wound
healing and less risk of infection. |
| Decreased incidence in chronic pain |
Poorly treated acute pain can lead to chronic pain. It is better to
prevent chronic pain as it is difficult to treat and can incapacitate the
patient for years. |
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