FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PRESENCE OF UNCONTROLLED ACUTE POSTOPERATIVE PAIN (IN SPANISH)

Abstract

Introduction: uncontrolled acute postoperative pain may cause delays in patients recovery, higher morbidity and lead to chronic persistent postsurgical pain with a negative impact on quality of life. Globally, the presence of uncontrolled postoperative pain is found to be as high as 80 %. Patient, surgical procedure, anesthetic and analgesic management factors are related to the pain. Objective: to determine the prevalence of uncontrolled acute postoperative pain in a postanesthesia care unit. Methodology: a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in the postanesthesia care unit of the Hospital Universitario del Caribe, Cartagena, Colombia. It was performed a survey and a visual analog scale in adult patients scheduled for surgery from August, 2013 to April, 2014 at the moment of the admission to the unit and then four and 24 hours postoperative. It was performed in 265 patients. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v15.0. Sociodemographic variables, medical history, anesthetic technique, surgical specialties and pharmacological management for intraoperative and postoperative analgesia were compared, according to the presence of uncontrolled acute postoperative pain. Results: the mean age of the patients was 44.9 years. The evaluation of postoperative pain on admission to the recovery room, and then four and 24 hours postoperative, showed uncontrolled pain in 14, 16 and 23 % of patients respectively. Uncontrolled acute postoperative pain was significantly associated with age less than 60, higher education level, having private health insurance, use of NSAIDs and regional anesthesia. Conclusions: a quarter of the patients assessed had uncontrolled acute postoperative pain Rev.cienc.biomed. 2014;5(2):253-262. KEYWORDS Postoperative pain, Anesthetics, Combined anesthetics.

Keywords

• Postoperative pain
• Anesthetics
• Combined anesthetics